Destiny's Fork
by Magic Anony
Summary: Hawke was just starting to think life was going to change for the better; but then her village is burned down, finds out about her brother's death, and a prophecy says she's the savior. Evil does not fear a man, but a 16 year old girl in lace up boots.
1. Hell's Fire

Disclaimer: In no way what so ever do I own, create, or have anything to do with the other stuff with any of the FF8 Characters. They are all creations of Squaresoft and I give them all the credit. Though I would have LOVED to have made them.......I didn't. There are just some things in life you have to deal with, I guess this is one of them. I did make up the rest of the characters though, so if you use them, ask me first or I'll kick your butt. Thanks. It starts off about two weeks after the end of the game, with Squall dead and Rinoa fine and living (what's wrong with this picture here?!). Oh well, life goes on-R&R!

Destiny's Fork

Chapter One

"Hell's Fire"

By Magic

His padded feet left a glide reflection like pattern on the dusty stair well. The small torches on the side of the walls dimly lit the stairs so that you wouldn't fall down three flights and break your neck. The end was in site, and beyond, a dark hall. He would make it in to one of the large stone outcrops in the gray walls. "This is too easy," he thought, grinning at his accomplishment.

"Get me?" He thought, "Yeah, whatever." He got careless and let out a small snort of a laugh, just loud enough to echo down the long labyrinth of halls. He stepped off of the stairs and on to the cool, hard stone floor. This far underground was the coolest place to be in the days that had come with the season. The dungeon smelt dusty, damp, and had hints of different molds here and there. But there was something else there. "What the....?"

He felt his arm being twisted behind him and a jagged piece of metal on his neck. Out of the shadows stepped Zula, her red-orange hair clips shining in the dim candle light. Her dog paws couldn't be heard on the floor as she stepped forward and grinned with delight. She crossed her furry arms across her chest and said, "Stealin' more food from'ta kitchen? Naw on ma watch."

She walked closer to her captive until her long dog snout was inches away from his face. Her pointy dog ears protruded from the top of her head, through her hip length, red-orange hair. The rest of her was covered in short tan colored hair and her laughing, gold eyes could be spotted from miles away. She was a daughter to one of the twelve families of dog people that lived in the desert village and probably the most trouble for rule breakers and thieves. She backed up a step after seeing who the perpetrater was, her dress swishing slightly. 

He glared at Zula and then realized that he was still being held from behind. "Who...?"

He was soon flying across the hall with great speed until he collided with a thud on the wall across from him. He turned around to see the figure of his capture in the shadows. The outline took a step forward into the light and his face contorted into a scowl. "Damn it."

"Can't catch you aye? To smart for the girls? This'll be the last time you steal from the kitchen," she spat out. She eyed her dagger in her hand, the one that had been against his neck, and tossed it at his head. Soon the hallow halls were filled with both of the girls' laughter after he flinched away from the dagger. It ended up landing a foot away from his head, deeply implanted in the stone wall. The tall girl lunged for it, picked it up, and again held it at his neck. "No more food for you, right?" 

"Bitch," he spat as he looked into her blue-grey eyes. She was in her usual clothes; tall, black leather lace-up boots, a black pleated shirt that fell an inch or to above her knees, and a black short sleeved shirt, covered all but the sleeves, by a white vest with tight laces up the front and looser ones up the sides.

She looked into his green eyes and then up to his jungle green hair that lay flat on the top of his human head. He was about two inches shorter than her five foot nine frame, but obviously much stronger and muscular. She was lucky to have caught him by surprise or else he would have been able to take them both out and still get to the kitchen. Without proof, no one would believe that they had found the thief. She backed away, her fists clenched so that she wouldn't deck him right there for that comment. "Take him up, Zula. I'll go up and stay watch. I don't have time to spend with this kinda trash."

Her best friend nodded and took a hold of Neal's shirt. "Come on."

"What kinda trash?" Neal yelled down the hall at her. "You don't even have a family! You think you're gonna go to the Garden? Well, take a hint, they don't want you. You're just a mut, Hawke!"

Soon Neal was flying across the room once again. His check and eye stung and would most likely be a lovely purplish color the next morning. Hawke rubbed her hand gingerly. She hadn't thought his head would be that hard. "Well, that explains a lot," she thought as she turned around and walked into the darkness.

"Get up!" Zula yelled at Neal and yanked him by his ear up the steps.

Hawke's skirt swished slightly from side to side as she disappeared into the darkness. "Yeah, you heard me! You anti-social freak!" Neal screamed at her back.

Hawke's hands clenched in even tighter fists, but she continued to walk down the stone hall. "Dun listen to him none, Hawke. He dun know what he's-a talkin' 'bout!" Zula yelled down the hall to her friend, then continued to pull Neal up the stairs. Soon all that could be heard was a bunch of scratching, whining, and scraping sounds retreating up the stairs.

Hawke continued to walk down the hall. Soon the floor inclined upward and the air became dryer. A warm wind greeted Hawke at the end of the hall. She looked upward. Nothing but sky could be seen from the bottom of the tunnel. She guessed she was probably about two floors below ground here and the top of the cylinder shaped tower was probably about four floors above the main ground. She looked forward at the old rust ladder and sighed. Another fifteen minute climb up the tipsy, old ladder to get to the look out point.

She began the long climb, not ever stopping to look down. Being afraid of heights had stoppered her at first, but after ten years of climbing the six floor high ladder to the top, the fact that her knees got shaky while standing on a chair had to be overlooked. Plus, she and Zula were the only ones that knew about the old tunnels under the central building by request of the elders. It was the main escape route out of the village, and it was very important that no one ever found out about it, or else the monthly attacks from neighboring villages would become even more dangerous with no way to escape the circular village untouched.

She reached the top and hefted herself over the edge. She stood up and looked around her. The look out tower was the tallest point in the village. It was stuck in the middle of the center building like a giant periscope and was the only part of the village that could be seen from miles around. Though it reveled the location of the village, it was essential with people attacking from all sides. She walked over to the rounded stone edge. It was generally a giant, round stone with it's top and bottom hollowed out and a hole in the middle to enter it by.

She looked down for a second. The spiral like roof of the center building was about two floors below her. There were two large spirals that reached two floors below the tower. The other four, slightly smaller spirals, twirled around the tower three floors below. The doors were delicately decorated with carvings out of gold and other precious metals. Precious stones mined out of the rocky hills three miles to the west, were place in the doors for the eyes of beasts and animals that had been carved out of the metal. There were several large, gold statues that watched you as you walked to the large front doors. It had an eerie effect with the evilly grinning animals watching you as you walked up to the building.

The center building was the home to all the elders of the village. They decided the laws, rules, and who live and died. The first born to every family must be a male, otherwise the baby was killed. The second babe must be a girl, and the third would be killed no matter what because of the limited area the elders wanted the village to grow by every year. It was require to have at least two children or else you would be killed also. The elders, all of which were over a thousand years old, hated change and human women. They were dog people much like Zula, but male and stuffy. Hawke wasn't even allowed to look at their faces when she came into the center building, but she didn't care now. She was used to being the lowest being in the village by now.

The rest of the village wasn't much to look at. The other buildings were shared by families. One family lived on the top floor and another on the bottom. They shared the kitchen and bathrooms. The houses were made mostly of wood from the forest four miles away. The wood had been painted a long time ago, when the first people came to the village, but now had faded and looked quite drab in comparison to the center building. There were no walls or fences in the village or around it. People relied only on the males of the village to fend off attackers. With the exception of Hawke, who would rather die than sit around and not be able to help.

She sighed. This was now her home and had been for ten years. She was adapted at the age of five by a women who could no longer give birth. The woman needed a daughter and according to Matrin, she needed a home. She walked to the edge of the giant stone and leaned against it. She was so tired......so very tired. Her eyes slowly closed, and she collapsed onto the floor.

  
  


*

  
  


"What a great guard you are, Hawke," Zula mumbled when she reached the top. She guessed she shouldn't be that hard on her friend since she had been awake for thirty hours straight waiting to catch Neal. She walked over and kicked her best friend lightly in the stomach.

"Ugh!" Hawke coughed out as she doubled over on the floor. "What was that for!?"

"Fallin' asleep on 'our watch, lazy-'ead!" Zula teased her friend as she walked over to the edge.

"Wha'?" Hawke asked and looked around. " I must'a dosed off for a sec." She stood up and shuck some of the dust off herself. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. Just dun let it happen again. I 'ave to go see what to do for supper so you've got tonight's shift all to yourself," Zula said as she walked back to the ladder and started descending.

Hawke followed her friend with her gaze. "Not that it's gunna happen again, but I hate havin' the night shift, Zula! You know that!"

"Well, you can't cook, so I have to do that and I can't cook up here. 'Orry 'bout 'is Hawke, but there's just no other way. Anyway.....'ve got myself a date with Zaden," Zula said with a smile before sliding down the ladder.

"Bitch!" Hawke yelled back teasingly.

"Of course I am!" Zula said as she landed on the ground. "And don't you forget it!"

Hawke let out a laugh before going back to the side. This is most certainly not going to be fun, Hawke thought as she gazed out over the desert. The sun was setting, creating a orange red glow, much like Zula's hair, over the land. Soon the light was gone and there was nothing left but a sliver of a moon and billions of twinkling stairs in the sky to be Hawke's light. 

The night gave the desert and eerie effect, the sands becoming ghostly white. It was cold now, and Hawke shivered as a breeze wafted from the sands below. She looked down, out onto the desert sands. Nothing was out there. It was a white void. 

She then spotted something out in the distance. It looked like fire, but that wasn't possible for the desert had nothing to burn. She blinked and checked again. It was still there. The light over the sands grew until suddenly Hawke could see them. An army of some kind was riding over the desert sands on the backs of chocobos. Each one of them carried a torch, giving them the effect of a raging wild fire. Hawke was frozen; she had did not know what to do. The army of men was quickly approaching and she couldn't think.

She looked all around. They were approaching from each side besides to the West. She saw something there, but what was it? It quickly came into view. Spirals and towers outcropped from the flying school as it glided towards the village. "Balamb Garden!" Hawke yelled in surprise and relief, just as the army hit the village. She turned gazed down at her village.

They had already come through the neighborhoods and were not almost at the central garden. Balamb landed near by and SeeD's started piling out of the garden.

  
  


*

  
  


"What's going on?!" Zell Dincht asked as he slid, almost tripping, into the main hallway.

"They've attacked the village," Selphie Tilmitt replied as she readied her giant Nunchaku.

"We're helping them??" Zell asked in utter confusion. He had just gotten in line for hot dogs (first one too) when the alarm had rang.

"This shouldn't be too hard," Irvine Kinneas said as he entered their little group.

"Don't get too cocky," Quistis Trepe muttered to him as she appeared behind Selphie. "They've destroyed six desert villages already and aren't stopping anytime soon." She looked them all over. "Everyone ready to go?"

The group nodded and headed out into the battle with the others.

  
  


*

  
  


Hawke watched as the soldiers clashed with the army. Soon women and children began running out of the houses and towards the center building, ready to exit the village. Hawke started to climb down the ladder when something caught her attention. Apart from the fire every soldier in the army carried, there was a band of lights around the exit from the tunnel way out in the desert. "No...." Hawke muttered as she realized the truth. They knew about the exit. She could here the mothers and children running through the tunnels below her. She glanced down at the bottom and saw nothing but darkness. 

She continued to climb down the ladder. She had to tell them to go back. She got to the bottom and was surprised to find something wet splash up upon her side. She reached down and smelt the liquid. "What the...?" It was gasoline. She looked down to the end of the tunnel. There were two men standing at the end, outlined by the torches they carried. The both started to run the other way until they were no longer visible. She heard a splash as something was dropped into the gas. Soon a wall of fire was rushing towards her. "Holy shit!!" She screamed as she climbed back up the ladder, faster than she ever had before. 

Heat from the fire under her burst up the tunnel along with tons of smoke. Hawke coughed as she reached the top. NOW WHAT?! She thought as she looked over the edge. The village had erupted in chaos. She could here the screams of women and children down in the tunnel. She tried not to think about it and looked a way of escape. The village was burning, and she was stuck up there like a helpless bird.

.....bird...., she thought and looked over the edge. You can't be serious..., Hawke began to argue with herself. "NO WAY...." she said so herself and yet at the same time, lifted herself onto the edge. The largest spiral was just around fifteen feet down, if she could leap down to it, she might be able to slide on it to the roof. Or else fall and die trying, Hawke thought as she swallowed hard. She closed her eyes, opened them again, and looked up at the sky. She continued to look up as she let herself drop. Her skirt flapped as she plummeted to the spiral. She looked down at the last second and grabbed hold of the edge of one of the loops.

She gasped out of relief but didn't have much time for relaxing. Her arms were getting tired. She glanced down at the building before dropping the next twenty feet to reach it. She landed with a clunk and straitened up. The ground was at least thirty feet down so dropping was out of the question. She was stuck.

A car filled with students crashed through the narrow road to her left. She looked towards it. The fighting continued under her. The car either couldn't slow down or didn't want to. It turned at crashed straight into the wall below her. Not even stopping to think, Hawke jumped down onto the top of the car. She landed, slipped on the surface, and rolled off onto the ground.

"Uff!" Hawke said as she landed like a sac of potatoes on the sandy ground. She looked up as a pair of red sneakers, black shoes, and four boots approached her. It was Quistis, Selphie, Zell, and Irvine. Of course they had no idea who she was for they had forgotten about her long ago, but she knew them.

Hawke quickly stood up and nodded to the others before running off into the fray. Quistis blinked and gazed after the youth as she disappeared into the fighting mob. Something about that girl seemed familiar. She looked over to the others to see whether or not they saw anything, but if they had, they hid it quiet well. She motioned for the others to follow her as she followed the girl's trail into the battle.

  
  


*

  
  


Everyone seemed to be paired up with someone, fighting hand to hand, one on one. Hawke dashed through the middle of the hostility without gaining a scratch. She reached the start of one of the long, narrow streets that lead to the desert. The buildings seemed to have taken on a dark, grim look to them as she dashed down the street. Hawke was too busy trying to get to Zula's house in time before something happened. She had to warn her the exit was blocked. She didn't even notice the can in the middle of the road before she tripped over it and was sent flying through the air. She landed on her shoulder and skidded for awhile.

Slowly regaining posture, she stood up and took a short breather. She reached over to lean her hand on the nearest door, but swiftly brought it back to her side. The wood door was wet. She walked over to it and smelled it. Her eyes widened and she took a step away from the building, into the middle of the street. It reeked of gasoline. 

"But.....how...?" Hawke mumbled out. She ran over to a door a ways down. It too was socked with the same flammable liquid. 

She gasped. There was nothing she could do. Everyone in the buildings were doomed unless they got out now. She started running down the streets screaming for everyone to leave their buildings. Some heads looked out into the street in wonder. A little girl looked down at Hawke, dropping her stuffed animal in the process. The girls wails filled air. People, realizing what was going to happen began running out of their houses and down the streets. The area was packed so tight Hawke could hardly make out where she was.

"HAWKE!!"

Hawke whirled around to find Zula calling for her from the center of the city. She started to run against the crowd, but the panicky people carried her along. She gave up and jumped into a doorway and into the house. The only way to get back was the roof. She climbed the stairs up to the second floor and looked out of the window. She carefully pulled herself out onto the window sill and reached up for the roof. She clambered up there and looked towards the center. 

Out of no where, screams began erupting from the edge of the village. Hawke looked towards the edge and fell to her knees. They had surrounded the village and were killing off everyone that came out towards the desert. A cool breeze from the desert blew her hair into her face. She blinked. All she could do was sit there and watch. Children, mothers, her friends fell to their knees in heaps of bloodied bodies on the sand. The people running out had no idea what hit them before their bodies were racked with thousands of bullets. 

The screams floated around her like ghosts in the air. She couldn't do anything, she was helpless. Her eyes just watched dully as person after person was violently brought to their end.

"HAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWKKKEEEE!!!!"

Hawke turned around at the sounds of Zula's cry. Her eyes easily found her orange-red hair in the middle of the fray. She dully looked down at her friend. She was standing glancing up at Hawke and pointing to something on the opposite side of the street. But behind Zula, a man carrying a sword stepped up to her. Hawke's heart leapt from her chest as she watched her friend get run through.

Zula's eyes widened slightly and her body swayed. Blood from the wound seeped out onto the sand. The man quickly reclaimed his sword and ran off. All Hawke saw of him was a bright, red blur. Her eyes blurred as tears swelled up. "Zula," she choked out as her friends eyes closed and she fell to the floor and was lost underneath the boots of those still living. 

Her best friend, only friend, dear friend, was dead. Tears streaming down the sides of her face, she stood up on the roof and turned to look at what Zula had been pointing at. A man was standing on the opposite side of her, across the street. His eyes blazed with the intent of blood as he met her gaze. Hawke was indifferent to the torch he held above his head. Nothing was registering in her head. She couldn't think. She watched as the flame, as if in slow motion, flew from the mans hands and onto the roof in front of her. The gasoline around her quickly caught fire, but Hawke didn't care. The flames ate at her and the world became hot.

The first thing she remembered was the heat. It was what snapped her out of it. I'm going to die, she thought as the flames swiftly ran towards her. Suddenly, a great gust of wind could be felt over head. She looked up and saw a machine hovering above her. On the end of a rope was a young man, slightly older than herself. He stretched his hand out to her, and she grasped it firmly with hers. The machine took off higher into the air and she was lifted from the burning building.

The rope was reeled up and Hawke and the youth with it. She looked up into his eyes, cold blue eyes, with all the sadness in her heart and held his eyes with hers as if wishing for someone to save her. He blinked and looked away as if he couldn't help her, didn't want to, or couldn't stand the look of anguish deep within her. When she reached the top, she collapsed onto the floor and closed her eyes. She just didn't care anymore.

*

  
  


"Is she okay?" Zell asked as Quistis looked over the strange girl they had rescued from the roof top.

"I think she'll be fine," Quistis said as she stood up.

Selphie and Irvine were piloting the hover craft up front on the way back to the garden when they spotted a figure about to be, in Zell's words, barbequed on top of a nearby roof so they dropped down to save her.

Quistis took a few steps back. It was definitely the girl that gave her a weird feeling before.

"Isn't she the girl that jumped down on our car?" Zell asked, taking a closer look at the girls clothing and face.

Quistis just nodded. 

"Seems she has a thing for roofs," a voice jested from the seat next to Zell. Quistis walked over to him.

"You say ONE mean word to her if she wakes up and I'll have Zell hang you by your hair to the ceiling and use you as a punching bag," Quistis said with much venom.

The youth raised his hands in mach defeat and went back to gazing out the window. His silver hair was messily arranged around his head. His eyes that gazed out the window in deep thought, were even colder than his hair. A small blue tint in them was the only thing that converted the cool silver to a slight human color. His build was slightly 'buff' as the girls at the lunch tables would say, and his head reached the 6 foot mark. He face was as cold as his eyes, yet beautiful all the same. He could have any girl at the school, if he wanted, but the idea just didn't appeal to him. Quistis shock her head. This was a weird one.

She turned back to the girl laying on the floor and began to start asking herself the main question that had racked her brain throughout the fight, who was she?

  
  


*

  
  


Cool water flowed on both sides of the gold thrown. The tiled floor was damp and slippery and the air so cold you could see your breath. It was perfect in her eyes. She played with a dancing ball of magic between her hands. It dimly lit the otherwise dark room along with two large candles on either side or her.

She looked towards her visitors with distaste. They were so weak and puny. She could have crushed them with one blow, and possibly maybe later she would. She nodded for the taller one to speak, he was her favorite of the two. His red hair resembled that of fire, and did she ever love fire. Every wish of hers was full filled through him, how wonderful. Her elegant robe made of gold thread glittered in the candle light as she moved her arm to toss the ball of magic to the other.

"My Lady, we have returned from your last request," the taller one spoke, his voice strong and clear in the open room.

"And the city?"

"Burned to the desert floor."

"And the elders?"

"All dead by your wish."

"No one knows of your actions? Who you were?"

"Not a clue, we had no identifying persons there at the time, besides myself and him," he nodded to the youth beside him.

"And you were disguised?"

"Of course."

A cruel, happy, heartless smile crept up the side of her face. "Then all is good. No survivors I take it?" She asked as she leaned forward ever so slightly in excitement in her chair.

"As my Lady ordered, no one but those from the Garden left alive."

A bloodcurdling laugh rang throughout the chamber. It rattled the wine glass sitting besides her left arm and caused the magic to scatter into a thousand individual shimmering lights. Then the girl is dead, she thought as she reached for her wine. They're both dead, no one to stop me. She took a sip of her wine. It's great to be back again.

  
  


*

  
  


"Get that animal out of here!" A high shriek rose from somewhere in the room.

Hawke slowly opened her eyes in reaction to the sound. A wet nose rubbed up against her cheek, and she bolted up in the bed.

"SageJames!!" Hawke screamed, wrapping her arms around her fox friend. He crawled up and licked her face with his ruff tongue before breaking out of her arms and snuggling in her lap.

Hawke smiled, then suddenly the night before began to reappear in her memory. She glanced around the room. She was still in the hospital. She vaguely remember being carried out of the ship and down the halls of the garden. Though she had been to the school, she had never been in the hospital wing. She blinked a few times to get used to the light and looked back down at her small friend. How'd he get in here? She asked herself.

The nurse, as if by reading her mind, walked over to the bed and said, "he just ran in here a couple minutes ago. No idea where he came from." She glanced down at the red fox and nodded. "He's yours I take it."

Hawke just nodded. The lady seemed nice enough, but she didn't really know what to say. She was still slightly dazed and the world began to spin so she lay back down. It most certainly smelled like a hospital, the smell was so strong it was choking her. She had to get out.

"Is there any reason for me to stay here?" Hawke asked as she sat up once again.

The nurse looked her over. "Not that I can see. Just take is easy for awhile. I'm sure the boss will want to talk to you so listen for announcements." She nodded at SageJames. "And make sure you keep a good watch on the little one." She smiled and walked back to her desk, leaving Hawke alone.

Hawke stood up slowly and took SageJames into her arms. He was light, but his weight seemed to be heavier this day. Hawke placed a hand on her heart. His weight seemed light compared to the pull her heart had. The scene of her friend's death played through her head again. It had haunted her dreams and caused her to wake, drenched in sweat, several times in a panic only to find that she was safe, but her friend actually dead.

Hawke started to walk out of the door when she noticed someone in the room next to hers. It was Irvine. She smiled and waved before exiting, leaving Irvine utterly perplexed at who she was. The hall was empty except for Selphie who was running full speed towards the hospital. She whooshed past Hawke without even a glance and straight to Irvine. 

"Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?!" Hawke heard Selphie's voice squeal through the doors.

Hawke blinked a couple of times and walked farther down the hallway. Had something grown between those two? They had been together the night before......Again, the pain that Hawke felt before weighed her down. She looked out the windows as she walked on. They had obviously landed the school somewhere in the desert. Hawke looked away from the windows, not being able to think about her village. Orphaned again, Hawke, good job, she thought to herself. She glanced down and began watching her feet as she walked-straight into someone. 

"Ooff!" The someone exclaimed and Hawke looked up into the green eyes of a cat-girl. Her green-yellow hair fell to her shoulders and matched her eyes almost perfect. A brown pleated skirt matched the collar on her khaki shirt and her ears and tail. She carried herself confidently, with more than just a hint of self worth in her eyes. Behind her, to each side, stood two more cat girls. One had white hair, the tallest of the three, and had a very steadfast look to her. The other one was taller than the green hair one and had curly black hair, worn in pigtails and buoyant gaze.

Hawke, being the same height as the one with white hair, had to gaze down at the green eyed girl to say sorry. "Er, sorry, I wasn't paying attention," Hawke said as she moved to get out of the way and walk past them.

"I'd have to second that," the green eyed one said with annoyance.

"Don't worry about it, Seania. She just probably couldn't see your vertically challenged figure," the dark haired one commented with a sneer.

For the comment, she was rewarded with a elbow in the stomach from the green haired one, Seania, and a giggle from the tall one. Hawke just kept on walking until Seania grabbed her arm and stopped her from continuing further. "I've never seen you around here, stranger....where are you from?"

Hawke stopped and faced the group. "What does it matter? Can't go back." She began to continue walking.

"Oooo, so you're the survivor." Seania articulated each of her words carefully, a cruel smile forming on her pink lips. "You know, your family is dead. Everyone is dead. There's nothing left of that run down, old, derailed village anymore. Poor, poor you."

Hawke blinked at Seania's comments but then spoke coldly and clearly, "I had no family to begin with, no one to loose. Your distasteful comments bother me none." She whirled around and walked defiantly towards the main hall.

The three girls smirked and walked down the hall in the opposite direction.

  
  


*

  
  


"Now what are we to do?" Quistis asked, nearly in a frenzy. The village burned, the people killed....it all seemed to be her fault. Only one person was rescued from the burning walls of the village. She clenched her fists tightly and slammed her hand on the table. "If only we could have gotten there sooner!!"

Zell, startled by the remark, fell backwards over the top of his chair. His blonde head poked up from between his legs, challenging anyone to laugh at his slight introduction to gravity. No one laughed. Selphie sighed on the inside. If the situation wasn't so serious this would've been the perfect opportunity to try out one of the many remarks she had saved up for Zell's occasional clumsiness. She looked around the room. Every face showed grim disbelief. They had been sent to save these people and had accomplished nothing.

"Don't be to hard on yourself," a woman's voice sounded from the corner. The ex-sorceress Edea was sitting rather comfortably in one of the cushioned seats across from Quistis. "You could hardly think to have won this, there was no way of predicting her next move."

Quistis looked up at Edea and frowned. "Then what are we going to do? We have no way of competing with that form of power, not again."

"What I want to know is how?" Irvine's voice sounded across the room from where he was leaning against the wall.

Edea looked down at her hands. "Ultimecia has her ways. She's gotten a second chance, a spare life so to speak." She looked up at them all. "And this time, she will be much stronger. After being killed once, there is only one way to kill her...."

The rest looked on intently as Edea finished her sentence.

"The only way to kill this sorceress...after all of the spells of protection she set on her second life, is....the same person must defeat her."

The room, already silent seemed to take on a thickened air. Quistis blinked a couple of times and then spoke as quietly as humanly possible. "But Squall killed her last time, he is no longer with us."

" We're doomed," Zell set in at the appropriate moment.

The eyes of the rest seemed to become heavy with sadness as Edea continued. "There is a way." She paused in thought. " Squall can be brought back." The crowd in the room all gazed at Edea in wonder. "With the soul of a sorceress, cut out by a certain blade, someone can be brought back to life. But," she grew quieter as she continued. "He can only be given this soul, this second chance, but one of his own blood, family."

The whole room almost burst out in outrage. Zell was the first to speak his voice. "What's the point of even tell us this?! We all know that Squall like the rest of us has....had no family!"

Edea stood up and looked him straight in the eye. "But that, my dear friend, is where you are wrong."

  
  


*

  
  


His back was beginning to hurt from leaning against the cement surrounding the fountain. He tossed a small piece of his hotdog down into the water, causing his reflection to ripple. He shifted his weight and moved his silver hair out of his eyes. He starred absent mindedly at the ceiling, not because the ceiling was necessarily the most interesting thing to stare at around here, but because he couldn't get a certain picture out of his head. The look that girl had given him, in that one instant when their eyes had met, had just penetrated his very soul. He had tried to shake it off, but the truth was he had wanted to help her but couldn't seem to find the way how.

He closed his eyes. There was something about her eyes that had captivated him, a sadness that couldn't be human, and a passion that shouldn't be held within the eyes of someone who had so little to loose. Her eyes...they reminded him of.....a vision of a girl in a green dress flashed across his mind. Her long, dark green hair blew in the wind as if it had no care. She turned to face him, her emerald eyes filled with love, and she fell. She was gone from him forever, dead, with the angels. He opened his eyes. How many times must he relive that? His eyes seemed wet for a moment, but soon they dried and became as cold as ever.

He stood up and began walking towards the elevator. Quistis had wanted him some time ago, but he hadn't really felt like socializing. Seania and her gang had been around looking for him, and he had to make himself scarce. It wasn't that he didn't like Seania, it was just that right now he couldn't deal with her endless flirting, loving gazes, and generally her attitude that he was hers. He liked her, as a friend, that was all.

His footsteps seemed hallow on the floor, echoing through the large room. Everyone was sleeping after the fight even though it was midday. He heard a small yip from around the corner. Curious he continued on. Most likely just someone playing with an animal that shouldn't even be in the building. He turned the corner and looked straight at the red fox running off with a toy in its mouth around the next corner. Damn it, now I'm going to have to be the bad guy telling a little kid he's got to release that animal out to the wild. He tossed the rest of his hotdog into the trash can and started off after the little fellow. He kept the fox within his view as he followed him around the next bend. He turned one last corner and came to a screeching halt. It was her.

The fox leapt up into her arms that she held outstretched from her body. She smiled as the fox licked her face and then looked up to see him standing there. The same eyes that he couldn't seem to forget looked him straight in the eyes again and held their gaze. Somehow he expected this and walked forward towards the girl. She seemed about five foot ten inches tall, maybe a tad shorter. Her blue eyes seemed clouded over by a hint of grey and were slightly hidden by her thin bangs that hung around her face. Her hair was up in a high ponytail while some layers fell around her face, framing it. She was pretty yes, not drop dead gorgeous but there was something that made her seem distant and elusive, making her even more attractive. She stood defiantly, not the type to back down he guessed. 

Most girls at the first sight of him would throw themselves head first at him. If she found him attractive at all, she didn't show it. For some reason this caught him of guard and wasn't ready for her question.

She held his gaze and simply said, "Are you the one that pulled me off the roof?"

Not used to being caught by surprise, he just nodded, his silver hair slightly falling over his face.

Holding his gaze with hers, she added, "thank you. May I ask your name?"

His composure regained, he replied with his usual air about him, "yes you may."

The girl's eyes continued to hold his, unblinking, "What is your name then?"

"I said you could ask it, I never said I would give it to you," he replied with his usual cocky smirk that would've sent many girls to the hospital.

This girl, on the other hand, surprised him yet again. She seemed slightly annoyed by this comment and didn't seem at all affected by his smile. She stretched out her hand and simply said, "Well then, if you don't mind me giving mine in hopeful exchange of yours, I am Hawke Leonhart." She kept her hand out and her eyes on his as they stood there in silence.

  
  


*

****************************************************************************************************************


	2. ﻿Waltz with the Moon's Dark Under...

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  
  


Destiny's Fork

Chapter Two

"Waltz with the Moons Dark Underbelly"

By Magic

  
  


The young man with the silver hair almost burst out laughing at the mention of her name, save for yet another confused silence. "That's not possible, Squall had no family," he managed to choke out between fits of laughter.

Hawke had known that she didn't like his attitude and now she was sure that she didn't like him as well. She dropped her hand, spun quickly on her heels, and began walking swiftly away. "Moron, idiot, dumb ass," she fumbled for the right word to describe him through the shroud her anger had pulled over her rational thought. Her eyes seemed to take on a fire as she walked swiftly away from the, "man." What a perfect word, rolling all the adjectives that could ever describe whoever the jack was into one word.

She heard foot steps catching up with her from behind. Then a cold hand gripped her shoulder and spun her around. She glared up into the 'man's' eyes, challenging him to a fight. His eyes seemed to dance behind is cold gaze, he had gotten what he wanted out of her, a reaction. "You were serious weren't you?" He asked the unnecessary question with the added slim of a snot ball.

Hawke said nothing, preparing to launch a snot ball of her own right in his face. She just couldn't take his attitude, she was going to scream!

"Would Hawke..... Leonhart please report to the third floor immediately. That is all," a snappy female voice called out through the speakers. Hawke shifted her weight, ready to leave this bozo, but he hardened his grip on her shoulder. "I'm going there myself, I'll show you the way."

There was no way that Hawke could protest besides possibly running all the way there, but with her luck this guy was probably on the track teem. She gave him a cold glare and turned to walk towards the elevator. The Garden was almost, or more like was a second home to her so she knew where everything was, though she had never been on the third floor. SageJames leapt out of her lap and ran into the elevator first. Hawke followed and unfortunately for her, so did the idiot. 

Being trapped inside the elevator was pure torture. The guy kept on glancing her way, trying to keep it discreet. Instead of being flattered by this, she felt like he was sizing her up to see how much she could take. She would show him alright. She refused to let herself glance his way, even though she did find him quite attractive. "Figures," she thought, "find a cute guy and he's got a dick for a brain." She sighed and took in a big breathe of air to calm herself. It was then that she realized it smelt like peppermint. The smell seemed to be wafting over from the silver haired moron, who continued to stare her way. 

It was a nice smell, something that she would have thought a nicer person would have smelt like. She took in another whiff of the air. It was almost comforting. She glanced at SageJames, who was smelling the stranger as well. They both seemed to get along well, neither bothering each other. SageJames usually had a knack for knowing the deep down insides of people. Hawke just shrugged; she guessed that SageJames couldn't be right all the time. 

  
  


The elevator door finally opened and Hawke just about leapt from the inside, through the sliding doors and out into the hall, grateful to get more that a foot away from that guy. The hallway was nicely decorated, and in front of her, two large doors loomed. She decided that she was not going to follow the jerk in, so she walked swiftly forward and opened a door. She slipped into the room and was surrounded by familiar faces.

**

  
  


He couldn't help but glance at her as they rode up in the elevator. She was even prettier when she was mad, but that wasn't what made her look. Her name had startled him at first, then thinking she was kidding, he had the overwhelming urge to laugh. After the announcement, he had realized that it was her real name she had stated. 

As the elevator rose slowly, he couldn't help but take notice of all the ways she looked like Squall Leonhart. Her eyes were almost the same color as his. Her face, though much more female, had some of the same lines as Squall's. He had only seen the famous SeeD once before he left on his adventure. Killed on the adventure that he was, he had only seen a few pictures that had been hung up in his honor around the area. She did look like him, that's almost what worried him.

Apart from the physical likenesses there seemed to be something deep inside her that made her much like her brother. She wasn't all that anti-social, seemingly ready to greet him right away, but she seemed to have the strength that her brother had once. But she seemed to be more sad somehow, unlike her brother who just seemed to be almost emotionless. Hawke, if that was her real name, seemed almost eager to show her emotions, except when it came to him. She didn't seem at all effected by his handsome looks or charm and if he thought about it, he found that he enjoyed that. "If anything, she want's to kick my ass," he thought as he glanced towards her yet again. He almost felt sorry for the way he had treated her, but being him, he wasn't going to apologize any time soon.

He turned toward her for the last time as the elevator slowed to a stop. Almost as soon as the doors open, she was out and gone, so fast that he wasn't sure whether or not she had simply gone through the doors. He followed her quickly, he was really late. The breeze left behind from her trail smelt like something he couldn't quite put his hands on. "Mango," he murmuredas he followed her in the door. She smelt like spicy mangos!

The group inside the office seemed to almost get a little nervous as they entered. He didn't know why but it didn't seem to be directed at him. She glanced around the room to find everyone that he had been with the night before in there, plus the ex-sorceress Edea. He gave a slight bow to her before leaning up against the wall on the war side, his favorite spot for obvious long discussions.

The girl, Hawke, on the other hand smiled at everyone as if they were life long friends. She glanced around the room, smiling to everyone in turn (glaring at him) and then, at the sight of Edea, rushed towards her with great vigor.

"Matrin!" She cried as she hugged the lady.

In response to this, Edea hugged the girl back before pulling away to look at the child. "My, how you have grown my dear. Desert life has served you well. You seem much, much stronger than before," she forced a smile before she could hide her grief no longer. "I am so sorry, Hawke." She hugged the girl again. "But I am afraid that there is no time for you to grieve over your lost friends. I am also afraid that I must add to your grievances."

Hawke let go and took a step back. "What do you mean?" She seemed to almost go into panic. "And.... and where is my brother?" She scanned the room once more as if hoping for a miracle.

Edea's face grew old and sad at that moment. "Your brother, I am afraid.....Squall, he was killed on his last mission by the sorceress Ultimecia. He's gone Hawke, I am sorry."

The youth watched as her face became as blank as a sheet of paper. Obviously sensing her distress, the fox jumped from Zell's head where he had made a bed out of, to her shoulder. Her eyes seemed to leave her face and travel far away. They had been close, Squall and Hawke, he had to guess. She didn't know either. She had just lost everything and now she lost her brother. He shook his head. He was now very sorry for what he had said before. The whole world probably knew of her brother's death before his sister even had the slightest idea.

  
  


**

  
  


Hawke took a step back from Edea and cradled SageJames in her arms. The joy of being reunited with her Matrin was now completely extinguished. Her brother was gone, along with Zula, her foster mother, and everyone she knew. She held onto SageJames like a child, wishing against everything that something was mistaken, that her brother would walk in through that door and prove them all wrong. But she knew that it was true, somehow, someway, the words just seemed to ring with the truth, whether she grasped it or not.

She looked down at SageJames, her life time friend. When Squall had left for the Garden, she couldn't stand being alone. When he returned a couple years later to visit her, he brought with her a small, tiny foxling, wrapped up in blue cloth. They had argued over the name, Hawke wanting it to be Sage and Squall saying it should be James, thus his name as of now. Brother and sister had become closer after that point, both seeing each other more that twice a month, even though distance had always been a big problem. Squall had even taught her how to dance one day when she visited him at the Garden. 

Her thoughts and daydreams were interrupted by Edea's soft and sweet voice. "I'm sorry dear, but there is more." Hawke turned her head towards Edea as she explained what was going on. "You have to leave today, after the ball. The new SeeD's are having their party, which you can attend if you wish. Prince Frost Trabia will escort you to his family's palace near Trabia garden. There you will find the information for the quest that you need. I am sorry, we have no idea about how you are suppoused to save your brother, let alone the world from this terror, you must find this all out for yourself. Again, Hawke," She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, "I am truly sorry."

"Who.....who is going to escort me?" Hawke said. She had heard of the Trabia family before, rich and powerful, though a very fair ruling family. The king and queen had many sons, six if she remembered correctly, but she had never met one of them. The thought of meeting royalty and actually having to be with them scared her. She was so much less than they were in the social status and right now she didn't think that she had patience for anyone, let alone a Prince.

"Prince Frost," Edea said as she glanced towards the sliver headed youth leaning against the wall. "That is him."

"Just give him a kick in the shin if he get's nasty," Zell whispered into her ear from the side were he was sitting.

Hawke almost fell to her knees. Everything was just adding up. First the death of everyone she held dear, and now she was going to have to spend the next three days traveling with the jack ass. She had no time to be mad though, Selphie grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards the door. "I'll help you get ready for the party. That'll cheer you up!"

Hawke let herself get pulled out of the room, leaving the rest of them to speak freely.

  
  


**

  
  


Edea collapsed into her chair once again. "That had to be one of the hardest things I have ever done."

"I hope she can actually pull it off," Irvine said with more that a hint of doubt behind his voice.

"We have no choice, all we can do is point her in the right direction." Edea confirmed what everyone else was thinking. They really were helpless.

"If she's anything like Squall, I'm quite sure the squirt can pull it off," Zell said, trying to raise everyone's moral. But no one really wanted to be happy and joyous, so he eventually gave up and left them all to find some hot dogs.

Quistis couldn't help but think about the girl after that. She had remembered her slightly from somewhere and now she knew where. She was one of the people that had taken care of Hawke when she was a younger. Her eyes, they hadn't changed a bit. Quistis looked up as she remember what Hawke had once said to her. She could see the childish face of the girl many years back as she said, "All I wan' is a famwy. I hate be-yen alone!" Quistis lowered her head, if anything she was more alone now than she had ever been. "Let's all try to cheer her up at the party, alright?"

  
  


**

"Come on!" Selphie had spent the last half an hour 'fixing' everything that could be fixed about Hawke's attire. They had rummaged through all of her makeup to find the perfect things to use for such an occasion. Hawke was tired and well aware that Selphie wasn't going to let her off the boat; she was going to this party no matter what.

She let out a sigh as she lifted her arms so that Selphie and the attendant could help her into her dress. Her upper lip curled up in disgust, though hidden under the fabric of the dress; she hated dresses. They restricted her movement and the only reason women actually had to wear them was so that men could gawk and stare at.....

"You almost ready in there?!" Irvine's impatient voice rang through the thick metal door.

"Patience is a virtue!" Selphie called back as she began button up the back of Hawke's dress.

After she finished, Selphie stepped back to marvel her work. She had done a fine job of fixing Hawke up for the night. Her hair was braided into two-reversed braids down the sides of her head and every once and awhile a mini white rose would stick out of the side of her braid. 

Hawke walked stiffly over to the mirror. Her reflection almost amazed her. Mirrors in the desert were a thing that was reserved for the wealthy, being hard to transport that far and all. Hawke had only gotten to see herself when she walked through the main building, once a year or so. She took a step closer to make sure that it was her.

Selphie said something of a good-bye to her and left the room with the attendant leaving Hawke to sit and stare at the reflection. Two strips of hair fell down on either side of her head, framing her face. The rest was braided back, letting one gaze into her face without being blocked by her masses of hair. The dress was simple enough. The top was separate from the bottom and laced up the sides, much like her shirt. In the back, there was a row of bottoms to keep it on and two thin straps that would keep it from sliding off to the floor. The skirt was made of the same material and flowed with her slightest movement.

She gawked for awhile more, not really believing that it was her, until she realized that she was going to miss the part completely. Not that she really wanted to go, but she needed something to keep her mind off what had just happened.

"Try not to think about it for awhile," she told herself as she walked out the door. She almost got excited about being able to dance with her brother a few minutes before, but then she had to remind herself of the fearful truth. "You'll get him back, no matter what, you'll get him back."

The sound of her voice echoed off the sides of the empty room as she left the door and went into the hall. It was a weak and unconvincing voice of a child that had no one to lean on.

  
  


**

  
  


Affairs such as this bored the shit out of him. There was nothing to do but be princely and it wasn't going to be the best night of his life, that was for sure. He looked up from his watch and into the eyes of yet another red head-the room seemed full of them. It was going to be a long night. He led her politely onto the dance floor and smiled at her, but his heart was clearly not in it. She was probably the most beautiful girl in the room by look standards, but she was as stupid as a door. She fluttered her eyes repeatedly and insisted that he listen to her story about her new chest of jewelry.

His eyes darted around the room, hoping for someone to dump the girl on. But everyone seemed to have a partner at the time and he was forced, by the code book of behavior of princes, to keep on dancing with the twit. His continued his scanning of the room, never quite giving up hope. For a second Zell seemed to not have anyone to dance with, but then a blonde girl grabbed him by the hand and whisked him away across the dance floor.

The blonde girl just happened to be the most hated girl in the school, not because she wasn't nice or smart, but because her brother was the most unpopular guy so she 'had' to be just as bad. Her dress was a lovely pink color that brought out the color in her cheeks. It flowed around her quite nicely, giving the image that she was floating on water. But of course none of the guys paid notice, because she was 'bad'. Her laughter broke out into the hall as she and Zell ran head long into a couple that was just getting into the dancing mood.

"So that's why they're dancing together," Frost thought with a laugh as the couple continued to ram into all the couples dancing. "Please," he begged silently, "just ram me! Do it now!" But something caught Zell's eyes and he slowed their whirling for a second. 

Zell raised his hand and pointed to a figure walking the door. The blonde girl he was dancing with also turned around to see the girl walking in. Frost, not being able to conceal his

curiosity, turned and glanced towards the door. It was her again! He shifted his dancing position so that he could watch her as she walked into the door. Several eyes shifted her way, but everyone had partners so no one ran up to her for a dance. She didn't seem to mind. In fact she looked quite relieved that no one had run up to her.

She looked much different than before. The dress gave her a softer appearance than her normal clothes. But he didn't get to see much more for that time being because the song ended and he was forced to give a princely bow to the young girl he had just danced with. The next song required everyone in the room to join in. The girls lined up on the outside and constantly changed partners with the guys that danced in the center. 

He saw that Hawke was whisked into the jumble and blazing feet of the dancers by Selphie, who wanted her to make friends. She didn't look all to happy about it, but there was nothing that she could do, the song had started. He could see that she knew the steps quite well and was surprised when the young man standing in front of her blushed a little. "Ok," he thought to himself, "I guess she's ok looking." He forced his eyes off of her for while and concentrated on dancing.

  
  


**

  
  
  
  


Hawke saw the young man blush and felt kind of sorry for him. She felt slightly awkward and felt her blood rush to her face as well. She glanced around as if searching for help. "Damn, shit," a very colorful array of words flew from her mind and almost into her mouth. She didn't want to be here, dancing with this guy. At least she new that in this dance, she would be able to change partners. The music changed to get faster and it was time for the dancers to change as well.

Hawke spun on her heels to the next dancer, not because she wanted to, but because she almost felt like she had to. She looked up into his face and her chin almost dropped to the floor. He obviously didn't recognize her at all from the looks of it, he just vaguely grabbed her hands and led her through the steps. "Seifer!?" Hawke thought as she gazed into his eyes.

He seemed rather bored about the whole party idea, but he had no choice but to dance. She noticed that he didn't wear the badge or certification of a SeeD. " He didn't make it," Hawke thought, "he must be pissed." She bit back a cruel laugh and tired to keep on dancing, but the temptation was too deep inside of her.

She lifted up her left foot as if to do the step, but instead of finishing it off on the ball of her foot, she decided to land the corner of her heel right into the center of his foot. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Hawke said slightly happily and slightly acting actually sorry. The bubbliness of her voice must have attracted his attention because he gave her the death glare, but by then it was time to change partners and Hawke was long gone.

She could hardly stop her giggling as she spun around and placed her arms on the shoulders of the guy in front of her. She looked up from her laughing and gazed into his cold, blue eyes. Her eyes widened a tad as she realized who she was holding on to. He must have seen her change of face because he seemed a little off kilter as well. They both continued the dance steps rhythmically, as if they had both become two machines that had to preform a task. The music finally came to and end, and Hawke began to take her arms off his shoulders.

Suddenly she felt a warm hand grasp hers, and then another on her other hand. He had reached down to grab her hands and was now holding them out in front of him. She couldn't quite figure out why, but her heart seemed to skip a beat, standing there in the middle of the dance floor. The band once again struck up another song, a waltz to be exact. 

"It's not right to leave a lady without anyone to dance with," he said without changing his face. It was almost as blank as hers when she answered, "It's fine, I didn't plan on dancing another one anyway."

He didn't even flinch at that. They just stood there for awhile until Selphie and Irvine, who had been dancing/ watching Hawke to make sure that she was getting on alright, came by. Irvine seemed to whisper something in Frost's ear, but Hawke couldn't tell what it had been about-his face remained unchanged. Once they had left, he spoke to her, "Irvine insists that we dance." It was a sentence that simple that caused him to place his hands on her waist and hers once again on his shoulders.

Hawke, not really knowing what to think about all this, decided that it was best not to think about any of it. She looked away from his eyes the whole time, not even noticing that they were dancing in the center of the room, twirling almost in time with each other; a perfect dance. The others had come and formed a circle around them, but both remained oblivious to any of the prying eyes or whispering faces. They were both off in their own world.

Hawke glanced up at the moon. It was as round as a pumpkin and filled the sky light window beautifully. She continued to gaze up at it, unaware of anything else. It seemed that the moon become the world, everything around her. She was losing herself, but it was okay. It seemed like the pain was melting off of her, she was becoming one of the light beams that radiated down off the ceiling. She allowed herself to be caught up in the light, the soundlessness, the painlessness; she was losing her very soul.

  
  


**

  
  


Frost looked up at the moon and saw just a round sphere in the sky. He remember what he was doing and glanced around at everyone. They had all frozen around the edges, watching them so intently that they didn't even seem to be moving. It took him awhile to figure out that none of them were actually moving at all. They had all become the background in something that he couldn't see happening. He turned his head to face Hawke and looked into her face. She was staring up at the moon, her eyes becoming blank and empty. Something was wrong, very wrong.

He could feel something, something very dark and evil was coming this way. His magic senses kicked in as he scanned the area for any possible creature that might be causing this, but everything seemed okay except......except for the girl whose hips he was holding. He left go and she seemed to stop moving all together, becoming like stone herself.

Suddenly a deep red fire erupted around them both. It was made of pure magic; that was all that it was. It was something that few people could do, and then he understood, she was coming. Ultimecia was on her way here, at this very moment. 

His first reaction, that he probably couldn't even understand the more he thought about later that day, was to reach over for Hawke. Whatever she had been put under, she had to shake it off now so that they could make an exit.

He smacked her lightly across the face; she didn't respond. He smacked her a tad harder and still she didn't even move an inch. He mumbled something about her forgiving him and rammed his fist into her stomach. It was almost as if she had come back from the dead. Her eyes opened wide and she looked as if she were surrounded by ghosts. He hefted her up into his arms, her weight seemed light compared to the burden that he was carrying; he had to warn everyone. 

Almost the instant that Hawke came out of her trance, the red fire had seemed to raise to the ceiling and disappear all together. He ran to the people that had moments before been statues in the distance. Everyone came back as if nothing had happened. Everything was normal except for the fact that a prince was carrying a very scarred looking young lady that he had been dancing with earlier in his arms.

Frost dashed out of the ball room and into the hallway that led towards the hospital. But at that moment, Quistis came running out from the ball room and towards him in a frenzy. 

"What the heck are you doing!?" She was almost in a panic.

Deciding that it was most likely best that Hawke didn't hear anything that he was going to say, as to not panic her, he set her down on a bench and walked out of ear range, around the corner before explaining to her that if they were going to leave, now was most likely the only chance they would get.

  
  


**

  
  


She slowly sat up on the bench and looked around. She felt cold, unbearably cold. She looked around and heard Frost talking to Quistis in a hurried and worried voice. She sat up farther and swung her legs over the side. She felt dead, the weight of what she had just seen could be felt almost pressing down on her back physically. She lay her head down in her hands and just sat there, trying not to think.

A new pair of boots could be seen out of her vision. She lifted her head to see who was looking down on her and met the cold eyes of Seifer. He was glaring at her with such detest the already freezing room dropped several degrees yet again. She met his gaze and stood. He immediately pushed her back down.

"Who are you?" He asked cooly and confidently.

"I don't see why that is any of your business," she matched his tone. Yet another person had forgotten her. She again straightened her legs to stand but was once again pushed back into the seat roughly this time.

"I make it my business," he said cooly. He gestured to two figures that had been standing out in the back of the hall. They each walked over and handed him two odd looking swords. Gunblades, Hawke realized after seeing one close up. He tossed one to her and she caught the heavy thing in both her arms, straining not to show that it was too heavy for her.

"It doesn't matter anyway, I figured out who you were anyway." He took a starting stance and waited for her to lift her gunblade as well.

Hawke just looked down into her hands. She ran her fingers over the engraved lion on the side......it was most defiantly Squall's. She bit her lip to hold back a sob as she raised the gunblade to match Seifer's. What was she doing!? She had no idea how to use this weapon! Something in her had snapped. Everything was happening so fast. All she wanted was out. Her life had been a living hell since the day she was born, and not this was just hell frozen over.

She raised her head to look into Seifer's eyes. All she met there was hate. She was forced to close her eyes; she couldn't take it anymore. She felt something rip the skin on her upper arm, a blade slicing through many layers of her skin near her left shoulder. She dropped Squall's blade and reached over to cover the wound. She was met with a knee planted firmly in her stomach.

It being so unexpected she did what any normals person would do, she doubled over and rolled a foot away on the floor. Seifer was just going to keep on coming though. The hate in his eyes had turned to excitement; he was having a blast. Hawke could here everything as if it was off in the distance; the names he was calling her, the clacking of shoes on the floor, the shoots from Frost and Quistis as they ran towards her, and the sound of Seifer moaning in pain.

She clicked out of her trance. She looked to Seifer and saw a girl's knee planted squarely in his groin. The girl turned around to face her; it was the girl in the pink dress from the ball. Seifer fell to his knees, pure hatred surging once again up into his eyes. The girl laughed light heartedly and spoke in a strong and confident voice, "pick on someone your one size, ass hole."

"Kayra.....you....bitch," Seifer spat out as he growled up at the tall girl.

"Now, it's not very nice to call your own sister a bitch, dear brother," Kayra turned to look at Hawke, "You better get something to wrap that with." She pointed to the wound.

"That wont be necessary," Quistis said as she walked over to the group. "You are all leaving....now." She looked to Seifer, "Except of course you."

Hawke got into a crouch on the floor, looking much like a tiger about to flee. She gazed quizzically at Quistis, but no answer came. Two students dressed like SeeD's ran up, carrying was seemed to be a bag filled with something.

"This is your clothes," Quistis said, handing the bag to Hawke. The other SeeD handed Hawke SageJames who didn't seem very happy about this all. He was quite tired and had been taking a very good nap. "You, you and you," she said pointing to Hawke, Frost, and Kayra, "are leaving, NOW."

She emphasized her point by leading them all on the way to the elevator. 

Kayra, who was very confused by the recent events, began to rant. "What?! Go wear?! In this dress?! What am I doing?! Who is this girl? What's going on?!" Her voice seemed to carry through the school as they walked towards the elevator, leaving Seifer to deal with his problem on his own.

"They need a ride to his palace. The only ship ready to leave is the White Goose and you're the only one that can piolet something that old," She looked Kayra straight in the face. "It is of the out most importance that she," she pointed to Hawke as she kept on walking, "makes it there safe."

"Oh thanks," Frost mumbled sarcastically, trying to lighten the mood for everyone.

"Deal with it!" Quistis wasn't in the mood to argue with anyone on this, they had to leave ASAP. She almost shoved them all in the elevator as she told them where to go. "Bottom floor, in the sewers, "she glanced at Frost, "this is the way we smuggled you in; we're sneaking you out the very same way." She glanced at them all before saying. "We'll hold them off as long as we can........," she starred Hawke right in the eyes. "Good luck, we're all depending on you."

The elevator doors closed and they began to drop floor levels. Hawke felt even more weight on her back......everything....everything in the world depended on her and this mission. She remained completely silent as the others discussed what plan of action they were going to take.

Half way down, there was a shudder that shook not only the elevator, but the whole school. Hawke glanced around worriedly; how long could this school take that? They, whoever ever they were, had most obviously arrived.

The elevator stopped with a halt and the they stepped out into a dimly lit room. Frost walked in first, followed by Kayra. Taking the hint, Hawke followed them in. The room was cold and made only of thick looking slabs of metal all over. They continued to the end of the hall after opening the first door. The walls were lit by dim lights on either side. It would not have been the best place for a cluster phobic person to be in; there was hardly enough room to walk sideways. 

After the next dimly lit room, Kayra and Frost decided that it wouldn't be smartest to have the person they were protecting at the rear, so Kayra went first, the Hawke in between, and Frost talking up the rear. Hawke must have looked quite worried because Frost sent her a reassuring smile before they entered the next hallway. 

"Don't worry, they'll never get passed Quistis and the others," he said with a smirk.

Suddenly the lights blanked out and they were surrounded by complete darkness.

"You were saying?" Hawke asked as he pushed her through the hallway in the dark.

"Slight setback, nothing to worry about," but his voice didn't have the same cockiness as it had moments before.

Hawke could not longer make out the line of Kayra's body so she guessed that she had run ahead. She hear someone making there way down a ladder, a metal rail one. "Shit, not heights....NOT NOW!"

Frost grabbed her arm to stop her from moving as they came to the out croup. The fall was roughly six stories high. They could see Kayra making her way across the bridge over what looked to be oil in front of them. There, out in front of them, was a ship the size of Hawke's old house. It seemed quite old, the red paint long faded and flaky. She was now less sure that they were going to make it out of here at all.

Frost seemed to read her mind as he pushed her over to the ladder, "don't worry, she'll hold. That's the way I came in."

Hawke just had time to nod slightly before she was forced to either climb the ladder or plummet to the bottom. She grabbed the rungs and made her way down as quickly as she could, her heart pounding the whole way. She could here metal clicks on the floor above them, whoever was coming was coming in fast. She made herself descend faster, sometimes skipping a rung and hopping to the next.

Whoever was after them had reached the top; she glanced up to get a better look. They were generally just machines, shaped like humans. No, more than shaped like humans, Hawke found with horror; they were made from parts of humans. Metal stuck out around skin and bone. One eyes was human with the other mechanical. Hawke felt her stomach reaching for her throat. It was so subhuman looking! She stopped climbing out of shock and Frost ran stepped on one of her hands.

"OUCH!" She cried out in pain, causing the things up top to adjust their attention to them.

"SHIT! What did you do that for!?" Frost's face was angered and slightly, if Hawke was seeing it right, frightened as well.

The things trained their guns on them and fired, right at Frost. Hawke who was looking up at him saw their aim and screamed was about to scream a warning, but she knew it would be too late. Her instincts kicked in and she lunged up at him, pushing him off the ladder and through the window behind the ladder, into the control room.

  
  
  
  


The glass shattered everywhere as it racked at Frost's body. He was flung onto the controls. He rolled off of them, crunching the glass into smaller pieces. He had been so slow to react. The girl had beaten him to the punch and probably acted in the best way she could. His anger about her alerting the things above them subsided into pure worry. She hadn't had enough momentum to fly through the window as he had.

"Shit!" he mumbled and dedicated it as his favorite word at that moment. He took out his gun and frantically climbed back onto the controls and looked over the edge for Hawke. "Please say that she didn't fall!" he thought, he was almost dyning with dread as he looked over the edge. 

As he got closer he realized that two hands were holding weakly onto the edge. Hawke had grabbed onto the edge at the last moment! He sighed with relief as he grabbed her hands, in attempt to pull her up. Her warm hands along with a great wetness met his touch; in grabbing the edge, she had grabbed a hold of all the shattered lines of the glass that didn't fall out of the window. 

He quickly pulled her up, careful not to squeeze her hands too much. When she was up to the top, he could see that her face had gone white; she looked so weak. He realized that she was in a great deal of pain and it was best to get out of there as soon as he could think of a way how. Hawke, unfortunately, wasn't going to be a great help because she didn't seem to be able to do much at the moment but lay lightly in his lap.

He was sparred having to think of an escape plan by Kayra. She had gotten control of the ship and was flying up to the window they were trapped in. She halted the craft a few feet away from the window and opened the side door. Over the intercom she announced, "Last flight leaving all uglies behind."

Frost got the clue and stood up, carrying Hawke in his arms. He reached the edge and took one giant leap from the side. He landed with a clunk inside the plane, quick to jump out of the firing angle of the things up above. The hatch door was closed and they sped towards the exit.

Kayra turned around out of curiosity to see what they were doing. She saw a great deal of blood over Frost's white shirt. "You ok?!" She asked slightly frightened. 

"I'm fine, she's hurt....just fly this thing!" He seemed irritable so Kayra did what she was told.

Frost carried Hawke over to the medical room and lay her down on the bed. She gazed up at him blankly for awhile until her eyes became focused to the bright light around her.

He grabbed everything from the cupboards that he was going to need to fix up her hands and then sat down by her bed, and anxious look on his face.

"You doing ok?" he asked, taking hold of her closest hand.

He was trying to be nice, she felt like she needed to make a joke out of it. He seemed to sad. "Oh you know, the usual after getting shot at, acquiring many pieces of shattered glass in your hand, and above all that.....getting your hand stepped on."

It worked; he smiled. "Yeah, er, sorry about that. This shouldn't take too long, just try to relax." He began the tedious process of picking every single piece of glass out of her hands and then wrapping them.

Hawke was glad for the silence, it gave her time to think. Suddenly the cold returned as she remembered what had happened just minutes ago. She had remembered looking up at the moon....but it seemed to be shrinking. Blood had began flowing over it, covering up it's radiant light. She was then in a dark room, part of her past. She was once again a child and Edea was sitting up with her, trying to make her go to sleep after her brother had just gotten back from being lost. She had been so scared and refused to go to sleep until her brother got home.

As she was being tucked into the straw bed, she, being a young curious girl had asked why she had been so worried about her brother. Edea replied that he was her brother and that it was natural to worry about it. But when she told Edea that she had felt almost a physical pain, she gave her a weird look.

Edea had straightened up and looked the young child right in the eyes. "What I'm about to tell you, you can never repeat to any person for the rest of your life-promise me? But you need to know for your own good."

Hawke had nodded and was excited in anticipation of this great secret. She smuggled deeper into the covers in wait of Edea to speak.

"When you two were born, there was an evil sorceress in the area that hated your mother very much. To get back at her, she placed a curse over you two. The sorceress was very lonely and she didn't think that it was right to have love so she made sure that you would be cursed for your brotherly and sisterly love. You see, my dear child.....you can only live but one full moon cycle, about one year here, after the death of your brother. That just makes your love stronger. You must make sure that he never dies, and him with you. For if you two are alone, you will forever be alone--therefore, you die," Edea's breath made the candle she was holding flicker.

Hawke had never been so scared in her life. At the age of five, she vowed to watch over her brother no matter were he was or what he was doing.

After than scene, her vision had changed to the fires of hell. She was dying, burning, and so very alone. The screams tour apart her body and her soul as she fell deeper and deeper into death.

Hawke made herself snap out of the pictures that flooded her mind. She could still hear the screams, the voices, the crying. She watched Frost pluck glass out of her hand, gazed at the blood with no emotion at all. What was glass when you had but one year to live?

****************************************************************************************************************


	3. To Be Grand

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  
  


Destiny's Fork

Chapter Three

"To Be Grand"

By Magic

  
  


An eerie silence had come over the room. Hawke had slipped away into her own world, every so once and awhile glancing over at Frost and sometimes glancing to see how bad of shape her hands were in. He was giving up on the situation; her hands were so badly cute he couldn't see what area to start with. Her white dress was now covered in the deep red of blood. He lightly held her hand in his own and looked her over.

She really didn't seem to mind at all, sitting there as if in a trance. He wondered what had happened to her at the ball room, but didn't bother to ask. He looked her up and down, checking to see if anything else was wrong with her. Only then did he realize that her shoulder had opened up and was still bleeding slowly. "Damn Seifer," he mumbled as he walked over to her other side.

Hawke seemed to come out of the trance and looked up at him. "It's nothing, really. I'm more worried about the use of my hands," she glanced down at the raw skin and bones that used to be the underside of her hands.

Frost noticed that her blood flow was slowing but it was almost at the rate that she was becoming more pale. She glanced his way, right into his eyes. This time he couldn't look away. "You're going to be fine, I'll make sure of that," he gave her a reassuring smile and left the room to go see the driver of the ship.

"How much longer until we arrive there?"

Kayra seemed to almost jump out of her skin. She turned around to look at him, sending a glare his way. "Not that much longer," she said with a scrowl.

"Go as fast as you can, don't wait for the clear to land," Frost said forcefully.

"But we could get arrested for that!" Kayra seemed frantic.

"I'll explain it to them later," Frost said as he began to leave the room. "She," he pointed to the other room in front of him, "needs help now."

Kayra finally realized what he was saying. She became hurried at the control panel and soon the craft was moving almost twice it's speed. "You may want to grab that girl and set her in a seat, this is going to be a rough landing."

Frost decided to listen to her. He walked into the other room, lifted Hawke off the bed, much to her protests, and set her into a seat in the adjacent room.

"Now what?" Hawke attempted to give him a glare but instead it ended up as a wince, not her intended affect.

"Landing," he said simply as he strapped them both in, him in the chair next to hers.

They all turned their attention to the view in front of them. The large castle streamed up into the clouds. It was cleverly hidden in the valley, surrounded by mountains, though Hawke had to be sure that you could see the peak of the castle from just about anywhere. Out of the sides of the castle, small battle ships were taking off and flying right toward them.

"What a great idea, your majesty," Kayra mumbled through gritted teeth.

"Avoid the missles and land right down there," Frost pointed to the landing ground right in front of them.

"No shit," Kayra said sarcastically as she ready the ship for decent. 

The ship started to loose altitude just as the first fighters caught up with them. Kayra pointed it's nose right under them. To avoid the oncoming bullets from the second squad she did a barrel roll. 

"Waaaaaaaaaahooooooo!" she screamed as she pulled the plane out of a loop. The run way was coming up fast. She brought it down in a hover before actually landing it. "We're going to have to run across the run way, to the castle, with those guys shooting at us, aren't we?"

"Certainly a quick learner you are," Frost mumbled as he struggled with Hawke's seat belt.

Hawke finally just got so fed up she did it herself, attempted to stand up, faltered and was caught by Frost. "Time to go!" Frost yelled as they opened the door hatch.

He began to run, carrying Hawke the whole way. "I hope someone recognizes me," he thought as they ran, the battle ships closing in on their tails.

"What a lovely welcoming committee you have here," Hawke said with a long drawl. She seemed to be getting weaker, her attempts to resist being carried less frequent and less harsh.

He glanced down at her and gave her a cocky grin. "Only the best for the best."

She decided that deserved an elbow in the stomach, but she was too weak to carry it out so she made a note to herself.

They were closing in on the doors of the castle, unfortunately, so were the ships. Guards began to fill in files in front of the castle doors. They began running towards the three, guns and swords ready.

"These your friends?" Hawke asked as they stopped running.

Frost just nodded, wondering what to do. He didn't even notice the cut of sarcasm in her voice. He didn't know what to do anymore. All that was on his mind was the fact that they probably wouldn't make it through this unless someone recognized him before they killed them off.

Suddenly a form burst from the soldiers running towards them. He ran up to them faster than should be humanly possible. Once he got about ten feet away, he spun on his heels and looked back at the oncoming soldiers. "STOP!" He cried. As if someone had just turned them all off, they obeyed his command and stopped. With the appearance of the newcomer, the battle ships stopped firing, but still hovered over head, ready to attack if need be. 

The new comer turned back around to face the three. He began walking forward until he was about three feet from them. His hair was as black as a shadow. His face was heart shaped, much like Frost's. His eyelashes long, but not girlish. Their blackness framed his dark violet eyes nicely. He was dressed in what looked to be riding pants and a black shirt with a couple laces at the top. His eyes and face seemed kind and intelligent, his mouth curved into an almost permanent smile. He was a little shorter than Frost, about Hawke's height, his build the same as Frost's as well, well built but not overly muscular. He looked right into the other guy's eyes and said in a strong voice, "you're home brother. You always knew the exactly wrong way to handle things. You're not subtle, are you?"

Frost's mouth seemed to curve up into a smile as well, though it couldn't be full because he was holding a girl that would probably become dangerously sick at any moment in his arms. "Don't you ever shut that flapping mouth of yours?" He asked, his tone kind yet teasing.

"Only if you duct tape it shut and even then, I would do all in my power to rip it from my face," he replied jokingly and lighthearted. It was only then, after looking down that he realized the blood that had stained Hawke's dress. He seemed to pale a bit and then looked back up at his brother. "Come on, let's get her to the healers."

Frost nodded and began to follow his brother as they started towards the large doors. Kayra yelled to them that she was going to take care of the ship, and took off in the opposite direction once more. The dark haired prince glanced back at Hawke and quickened his pace, Frost doing the same. The soldiers, now recognizing one of the princes, bowed low as they walked past. Some offered to take the girl in his arms, but he rejected that quickly and kept on his forward pace. Once inside the doors, they got on a small craft of some sort.

The dark hair youth started up and began rapidly pressing buttons, his hands moving swiftly and lightly over the controls. The craft lurched off the floor and hovered a few feet above it before taking off at a quick speed down the catacombs of halls. To Hawke, this was all quite a blur. She couldn't really grasp what was all going on, except for the fact that she was overly close to Frost. His minty smell overcame her world and she let it calm her. She wouldn't let herself get nervous, that would only make the blood flow faster in her veins and therefore, faster from her body. She pressed her head close to his chest and just listened to his heart beat, trying to calm hers to that same speed.

The craft seemed to slow a tad and then began to stop. Hawke wasn't quite sure what to make out of all this. They had stopped by a large door and were now pulling her off the craft. Frost carried her into the new room, after his black haired brother opened the door. All of a sudden, Hawke was surrounded by a huge grouping of people. They hassled about her as if there was something really important to be done. Some looked down at her, others just went about on their business.

A bald headed man turned to look down on her. She felt herself being lain on a flat and cold surface; it sent shivers up her spine. She looked up for Frost; he was the only one that she knew here. When she didn't see him around, she began to panic. What were these people going to do to her? She heard a few of them walk up to her in a whispering conference. The bald man dipped his head down until it was only two inches from her ear. 

"Sleep, Little One. All will be well when you awaken," one of his hands reached down to her face. She was too scared and tired to object. He closed her eyes and somehow, no matter how much she wanted to peak, she kept them closed. She soon felt herself drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

  
  


***

  
  


She continued gazing out the window in front of her. The mountains weren't something that she had ever seen, only hills in her desert home. The Garden had sent her things; clothes, dagger, and most importantly, her fox, SageJames. She glanced down at him as he surveyed the room. He seemed to find the animal carvings in the deep red wood on the posts of the bed very entertaining. She returned her attention back to the mountains. Placing her head in her hands, she was once again forced to remember what had happened that day, or was it yesterday?

She wasn't quite sure when she had waken up. Upon opening her eyes, she had immediately glanced down at her hands. She did so again. They were completely heeled. The only thing that would remind her about this day for years to come, where the thinly drawn scar marks up and down both of them. The wound on her shoulder had become nothing more than a memory, no scar marked that area at all. She had flopped back down on her bed with a sigh of relief. He had done it, most likely saved her hands and her life.

She had crawled, or rather melted out of the bed only from the smell of something warm and cinnamon-apple that wafted over from the corner. She found it to be a bowl of oatmeal and devoured the whole thing in a few bites. She had wanted to eat something else, but she saved the glass of orange juice for later.

She wavered when she stood up, ready to get her clothes on. Not because she was weak, but just because her legs didn't seem like they remembered how to walk. Even if they refused, she forced herself over to the bag that had been lain on the oversized bed and got dressed in her usual outfit; once again clad in her black leather lace up boots, black skirt and shirt with the white lace up vest over it, she felt better about the day. The day brightened a bit more when the maid had come in and brought her more oatmeal and some sweet tasting fruit to eat as well. And then it was almost the best day of late when her companion, who was now licking the oatmeal bowl clean, had bounded in the open door in front of a very frightened maid.

Now she was just sitting, starring out the window in wonder. She didn't really think that anyone was going to remember that she was here, so she figured that she had the whole day to herself to rest up and catch herself from going crazy. Everything was happening so quickly that she could hardly get what was going on before something else happened and then she was ripped out of that idea and thrown into the next one. Clank! The doors that opened from the hall to her bedroom were opened slowly. A silver head pocked it's way into the room and asked, "You decent?"

Hawke scrawled at the prince before turning back to the window. "If I wasn't, you already had your head popped in the door. What's the point in asking?"

"Politeness," Frost answered lightly as he pushed the door open further and walked into the room. "Anyway, the maid said that you were ready to be able to talk to people."

Hawke didn't turn away from the window; she really didn't feel like talking or doing anything with anyone. She'd rather, at this point, sit a wallow in her self-pity. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. 

Frost gave an aggravated sigh from behind her. "We've got to talk about all this." He waited for a response in silence.

"What's there to talk about?"

Frost seemed to think that is was a good enough answer and grabbed her hand, pulling her off the seat by the window, and then out the door. 

"Excuse me!?" Hawke said as she was yanked down the many halls. Frost stopped his forward charging to pull her close to him and whispered, "we need to talk somewhere no one can hear us, unless of course you want everyone in the world to know who you are. Of course if everyone knows, there are a lot of people that would greatly welcome the coming of a new era ruled only by people of powerful magic. Therefore, you would soon obtain a hole lot of new enemies and I'm quite certain that it would get around to Ultimecia herself that you are still alive and not dead in that fire. Unless you want to face that witch right now at this very moment, why don't we just take a precaution?"

Hawke was shocked into silence for a moment; it had not yet sank in about what she was actually up against. When she snapped out of it, she realized how very close he was to her and pushed him off. "Fine. Lead the way."

Frost just nodded and continued to walk through the halls. He let go of her hand and she now came quite willingly, though slightly begrudgingly as well. She came out of her thoughts to see how very richly that this castle was decorated in. It looked just like one of the old castles, in the Dark Ages. The carvings and paintings that lined the halls, along with the rich, deep carpets and tapestries, made her feel like she was walking in a fantasy world. Even the center building in what had been her village wasn't this rich; not even close.

She suddenly began to feel very out of place. Everyone was wearing the newest and latest fashion; prancing around in many jewels and diamonds. Even the servants had a few diamonds here or there. She was just walking around in her normal clothes. She bit her lip as they walked further and glanced over to look at Frost. He was in riding breaches, black ones, and a very nice looking black velvet top-fit for a prince. She swallowed, "stupid royals," she thought to herself. She put on a poker face and pretended like she didn't notice anything.

  
  


***

  
  


She sat at her throne, drinking the blue potion delicately. She glanced down at the two little bugs that were again at her feet. "Did he return?"

"Yes, malady," One of the humans, the red headed one, spoke clearly and confidently.

"Are we ready to continue with the plan?"

"We are."

"...But malady, there is one thing that I believe you should know," the other human spoke, his voice wavering and cracking as he attempted to talk to the sorceress. "He brought with him someone else, someone of possible importance."

The sorceress leaned forward in the gold throne. "And who might this be?"

"No one knows," He looked worried at his answer and fidgeted from side to side on his feet.

"No one knows...." The sorceress fiddle around with her white hair. "Well, then....I think it would be the best for one of you to find out, don't you?"

Both of them nodded, the second one seemed to have gone white. 

"You know what, my dear?" The sorceress glanced at the one that was rapidly draining himself of all his color. She stood up off the throne and began walking slowly to him, her robes following in a train behind her. 

The man, skinny and very frightened, started to back up. "What is it? Don't you want a kiss from dear old Ulti?"

The man shook his head and backed up closer to the wall. He seemed to be panicking, his heart beat was racing. "I have no need for anyone that can't just look at me without become all scared....."The sorceress was closing in on him, like a hunter on a cornered rabbit. "You are relieved of your job." She leaned down as if to kiss him, but in that moment a sword, completely white appeared in her hand. She dug it deep into his stomach and ripped it out quickly. The man went completely white. "You're lucky," she glanced down at the sword, "this sword kills almost instantly, and almost painlessly. It's a sword with mercy," she looked back up at the dying man. "Too bad to." She walked back to her throne as the man fell to the ground. 

A puddle of blood was forming around the man's body as the guards came to pull him away. But the sorceress didn't seem to notice, she was too intrigued with the white blade in her hands. "Who anyone could make a magical weapon used to kill with such mercy is beyond me." She seemed to almost glare at the sword before it faded away, concealed with magic. She glanced up at the remaining human. "Go, find who this child is. We have to begin our plan tonight."

He nodded, bowed, and exited the room.

  
  


***

  
  


She glanced around the room they had ended up in. She couldn't believe that they had to walk through a cupboard to get into this place. After what had seemed like an eternity of walking through dusty, unused passages they came out somewhere deep below the castle. 

The room seemed to be some sort of library. Books lined all the walls that ran in a continuous curve around her. The room had to be some sort of cylinder shape because standing in the middle of the room caused the walls to go around her in a circle shape. What was the most amazing thing, was the window at the top of the room; it was just large, clear glass that was rounded up and out of the room, like half of a sphere. If you were to look up from the bottom, you would be greeted with the dark, deep blue color of water. Colorful fish swam over them as she looked up into the window. The sunlight just barely reached all the way down here, and seemed to peak through the water to the window in a scattered pattern. The light danced on the floor on the bottom that was one big mirror, causing it to cascade around the room. She guessed that they only needed to light the room on really cloudy days and at night. She was in complete awe.

"Like it?" Frost asked, reading her expression.

She spun around on the floor. "It's amazing and," she looked around the room, "it's a library and I would give my life for a good book." She jumped on one of that ladders and began filing through the books that lined the shelf. Some of them where storybooks, but the majority had weird symbols on the front and were written in what seemed to be two languages. "What is this language?" Hawke asked not looking down to Frost, but instead studying the writing as if it was something to be weary of. 

"That's the old language, or, as many would call it, the writing of the sorcerers," he seemed to become slightly sheepish at that moment.

"But, I thought all of those books were to be burned?" Magic to that decree had been outlawed generations ago. It both frightened people, and had caused more tragedies and catastrophes than it was worth.

"Oh, they were. All except the ones that my mother saved."

Hawke looked down at him in interest. "So, no one knows about this place?" 

Frost shook his head. "Not even my brothers."

She became even more interested and slide down the handles of the ladder. "Then why do you know?"

"Simple. I love to read and my mom gave each of my brothers a gift before she," he seemed to get angry, "passed away. I got the library. Sworn to secrecy, I am the only one that knows about it, until now."

Hawke looked up at him. "Why in the world did you show me? I'm sure that there could have been other places to talk."

"Not that no one living knows about."

She just shrugged. It was true that she felt very privileged to see this place, but she wasn't going to show it. "Why did your mother keep all these books then?"

He went slightly white and then walked over to one of the chairs. He sat down in it and looked up towards the ceiling, suddenly quiet. After a while, he came to look up and recognize that Hawke was there. "Because she had use for them."

He had put it as simply as he could have. His mother had been a sorceress. Hawke tried to conclude what this made of his life. "You're half sorcerer." The room suddenly felt really small and clammy. What in the world was she doing in here with this guy?! He could probably kill her at any moment...was that why he had shown her this room? Her hand moved slowly to her dagger that lay in its sheath at the side of her hip.

He seemed to realize what she was thinking and just shook his head. "It's ok, I'm the same person that you snapped at when I walked into your bedroom thirty minutes ago. I don't plan on mutating into anything nasty and green. You can put that back now," he said, pointing to her dagger that was already drawn and ready. "And please, stop staring at me as if I have just sprouted three heads."

She became slightly embarrassed at her brash reaction. She resheathed her dagger and lay her hands on her hips. "So I'd have to guess that your brothers are half sorcerer as well?"

"You guessed right," he didn't seem to think that this conversation was very interesting. "We each got a different type of magic when we were born. Fire, Light, Stars, Water, Earth," he stopped and pointed to himself, "Ice."

"Makes sense," she rebutted. 

The room had suddenly gone eerily silent at that moment. There seemed to be a slight tension there at the moment. Hawke couldn't help but asking, "how did your mother die?"

He seemed to draw even farther back from her as he looked down on the ground. "She was murdered....by her own kind."

"Oh." Hawke wasn't sure what to say to that. She shifted around on her feet. There didn't seem to be much to say at that moment. "Shit," she thought to herself, "major screwing up of this conversation." The air seemed to become even more heavy until Frost seemed to get sick of the feeling and stood up. 

"Whatever, doesn't matter anyway. It's all over with." He walked over to the ladder and climbed up it, reaching in for a book. "This is the book in which we are going to find all the answers to resurrecting your brother."

Hawke shivered and retorted, "would you not say it that way? It sounds like a horror film this way. I'm not bringing my brother back from the dead," she swallowed, "I'm just, eh.....,bringing his soul back."

Frost shrugged, "whatever."

Hawke didn't like his light attitude about his. "Listen up, buddy, this is my brother we are talking about here, my only family. I think maybe you should take this more seriously."

"Alright, pal," he continued to page through the thick book until he raised his eyebrows at something. "Well, I found out HOW to do it...."

"Really?" She momentarily forgot about her quarrel with him and climbed the ladder.

"Here it is," he pointed to the page in front of him and began sliding down the ladder, right at her. 

"Hey!" She yelled as she was forced to clamber onto the library shelf. She jumped back onto the ladder, slightly shaken. She climbed back down the ladder and ran up to Frost with a vengeance. "I. Hate. Heights."

"You seemed fine with them when you saved me up on that ladder," he smirked slightly and continued to read the book.

Hawke was forced to find an excuse, because she had been terrified. "What you just did is a great way to get yourself killed."

"You wouldn't kill me," Frost said smirking further, "you just saved my life if I do remember."

"One, doesn't mean a thing, and two, you owe me big time," she crossed her hands across her chest and took the bitch pose.

"If I do remember correctly," he commented, slamming the book closed, "who was it that saved you from dying of bleeding to death?"

"Well, then I guess we're even then, aren't we?!"

"GUESS WE ARE!"

The two were just about to rip each others throats out with their own hands when a fish swam into the glass at the top. The noise caused both of them to jump after being in the quiet room for so long. They both looked at each other and then burst out laughing.

"You look funny when you get all scared!" Hawke yelled at him through her endless laughing.

"Me scared? What about yourself?! I don't think I've ever seen anyone jump that high!" Frost was laughing just about as hard as she was. They both looked at each other and glared.

"I wasn't scared at all!" They both scream at the other in unison. The ended that with a glare. They most likely would have stayed there, glaring at each other until they had died, except the same fish found it necessary to ram into the glass once more. 

"Stupid fish," Hawke said with a glare up as Frost mumbled something to the same affect.

Hawke turned back to him and sighed, "that's enough, tell me how to retrieve my brother."

Frost opened the book up again, "you sure you want to know?"

"No, maybe I'll just let myself sit here while the whole world comes crashing in around my head.....OF COURSE I WANT TO KNOW!"

Frost shrugged and read from the book. When he was finished, he slammed the book closed and tried to read Hawke's expression, but it kept changing from being pissed off, scared, happy, and generally confused. She looked up from her shoes and said, with her voice in almost a whisper, "how the hell am I suppoused to do that?"

He shrugged again, "beats me."

"That book doesn't even know how to bring him back!? Why did they refuse to write it down? How am I going to find this chick again!?"

Frost sighed. He looked as confused as she did. "It just says to find the Guardian of Death. She is the only one that holds this knowledge besides sorcerers. And," he attempted to look less confused about his part, but it wasn't working. "You can only find this guardian when you are thinking about something else, and not finding her at all. You're going to have to find something to think about I guess."

"Tha-that----that's SO STUPID!" She didn't know what to do, rant or start crying. Crying was out of the question so she decided to rant. A rainbow of curses flew from her mouth when she cursed everything from lipsticks to men wearing skirts in the woods to hell. Frost was so taken back by it, he took a few steps back. The movement brought her back to the times. "And I'm going to be doing this all by myself?!"

Frost shook his head, "I'm going with."

"I don't want to sound unappreciative......but, I personally don't think that I could stand you for as long as this might take." She did want him to go, or rather anyone go with her for that matter. She would have gone with Elvis if he was the only person that would go, but he could never know that she was thankful for his company.

"Well, it's going to be a challenge for both of us, but I've been assigned to do this," Frost said, with-if he had been a dog would be described as-his teeth barred. 

"Oh so you wouldn't go with me if you hadn't been told to?! Remind me of that when I'm about to die so that I don't ask you to help me."

Frost returned her glare and her tone of voice as he said, "It's not like you've given me any reason to want to save you."

Hawke looked straight into his ice-blue eyes and glared, "then why did you?"

"Politeness," Frost growled and stared back at her. Again, they most likely would have stayed there, staring at each other if Frost hadn't of decided that it was getting stupid. He looked away and went to return the book, bumping into her shoulder as he walked past. "We have to think of a name for you."

Hawke turned around to face his back and smirked, "I already have a name, haven't you realized that yet? Or wont you admit that you were wrong?"

"Okay, whatever, I was wrong. You need a name so that when we're here, you can be talked about and people wont suddenly realize what you must be doing. Unless of course, you think that 'Leonhart' is a very typical last name."

He had a point, even though Hawke wasn't even close to admitting it. "Fine," she replied after a time of thinking about it. "But I have no idea what name I'm going to respond to."

"You also need to have a past, so that if people talk to you, you can talk about things as well, without having to lie completely."

"Fine! Can we just get on with this?!" She didn't like the idea of changing her name, even for the short time that they might be in the castle. But she couldn't really do anything about it because it was the right thing to do and she didn't have any better ideas at the moment.

"Fine with me. What name do you want?" Frost gave himself a push on the ladder and sent it gliding around the room. He stopped when he came upon a certain book. He pulled the blue tinted book out and walked down the ladder to get to the bottom. He began shifting through the book, every so once and awhile glancing up to look at Hawke, either marking a page or else shaking his head a moving on.

This began to get annoying to Hawke after awhile, she didn't like it when people didn't tell her what they were doing and she decided that it was time to know what exactly he was looking at her for. She kicked him in the shin as a sign to come out of that book and clue her in on what was going on.

He pulled his leg back right as she moved to kick him, causing her to ram her foot into the seat that he had been sitting on. "Ouch! Thanks!"

He looked up from the book and raised an eyebrow at her. "What?! Was I suppoused to let you kick me or something?!"

"But of course," she said, trying to be as serious as she possibly could and not blow up and rip his head off at the same time. He went back to reading the book, glancing at her, and marking pages as she went off to look at books.

"You have a family tree of everyone in the world?!" She was amazed as she opened up a large book that was resting on a pedestal over by the wall. It had been bound in a leather raping and tied together with a green, frayed string. As she flipped through the pages she began to wonder if her family was in there. "Do you think that they would have Leonhart in here?"

Frost shrugged and looked up from his reading. "They most likely would. It's a magiced book. You're in there somewhere, the only problem is if you can find it."

Hawke saw that he was quite right. The farther that she got into the book, the farther away from the end she got as well. It seemed that pages just appeared right before her and no matter what she couldn't find her way through them all. She finally made it to her last name. There were several other families in there, but not hers. "Frost....I'm not in here...."

"That's impossible," he mumbled as he continued to page through the book.

"Seriously," she checked the pages twice and found that she had been right.

He seemed to become very interested in the fact that she couldn't find herself and walked over, seemingly ready to prove her wrong. "You've got to be in here."

He checked over the pages as she had done, twice, and then once again a third time before finally shrugging. "Leonhart is not really your last name then," he said simply before returning to the chair and his book.

"WHAT?!"

"It's simple, someone at the orphanage most likely just liked the name and decided to name you after it. They probably didn't know your parents' real name so they had to come up with one themselves."

"Oh." Hawke really didn't know what to think about that. In fact, as she had been turning the pages she felt that she had gotten closer and closer to finally knowing who her parents were, but if she didn't know what her last name was, then it might take a life time and possibly forever to find herself in that book. She shrugged it off; nothing is perfect and she was fed up with that stupid book that Frost had been reading. "WHAT ARE YOU READING?!"

He seemed to come out of the book and looked up at her, "it's a book of names. I'm marking the ones that might suit you, though it's quite hard because Hawke is almost the perfect name for you."

"I'll take that as a compliment. What names do you have so far?"

"Well, I think that you look mostly like a T name," Frost said, starting to circle her around.

"What is it? Where you a vulture in a past life or something?!"

This took him slightly off guard, but he continued to circle around her, "A Ti to be exact."

"You are not calling me Ti."

"Wasn't going to mention that one, how about Ti-Liyah?"

"...what?!"

"Ok, so maybe not that name....how about Ti-Anna?"

"How 'bout not I rip your balls off with a spork?"

"Never mind then. Ti-Ara?"

".....that's not even funny!"

"Different letter then....V....how about Vi?"

".....no..."

"What about Vloochonk?"

"....."

"You're so very picky, Vixie?"

"I'd feel like a fairy....NO."

"Let's try L then. Does the name Lacrimioara move you?"

"Only closer to killing you with my feet."

He raised both eyebrows but kept his face buried in the book. "Labaosia?"

"Try again."

"Lyndocotishi?"

"What book are you reading?!" She took a step towards him and could see him smirking from behind the large book. "You're just making all the names up aren't you?!"

He took a step back, "no, not at all. They're all right here in this book."

She took a step towards him, "then lemme see that book."

"Nope," he took one more step back. Hawke was tired of this game.

"Lemme see that book!" She lunged towards him, reaching out for the book, only to grip the air as he swiftly moved away. They began what could have been called a dance, she would run after him, and he would move away just in the nick of time. He would then call out the weirdest name that he could think of/read from the book and then this would cause Hawke to leap at him again.

"Give. Me. That. Book."

"Come. And. Get. It, Lauiski."

"The name's Hawke, buddy, and don't you forget it!"

He ran out of the room and started going through the dark hallways, back up towards the main part of the castle, all the time shouting out random names that came to his head for there was no light to read if he had been reading.

"Come back here, Frost!"

"Come catch me, Ti-Naynay."

"There is no way that can be a name," Hawke mumbled to herself as she followed him through the hallway. Frost came to the opening first, jumped out and turned around to greet Hawke as she came up on him, the book was no where to be seen.

"Where did the book go?" Hawke asked as she glared at him and panted for breath. 

He leaned against the cupboard and shut the entrance to the library quickly. "Disappeared I guess."

Hawke didn't care enough to argue about it so she let herself be lead back to her room.

"There's a party tonight, in honor of my return," Frost declared as they walked back to her room. "I have no one to bring with and so I guess you'll have to do."

"I'll have to do?" She had been walking faster and in front of him, but now turned around to face him.

"Yes, well, we can't have everything we want to."

"What in the world is tha-" She was cut off as a long bearded man came up to her. He was wearing the most glorious clothes she thought possible. His white hair came down to rest around him shoulders and his head was topped off with a gold crown with so many glittery things in it, she could have sworn that there was no metal to it, just gems. She looked at him with awe.

"Oh, hello, father," Frost said as he moved up to catch up with Hawke and the king.

"F...F...father?" Hawke thought to herself and swallowed. It was the king; what was she suppoused to do?! She didn't know how to curtsy, at least not well. And she didn't want the first time meeting with the king to be her falling on her face when she wasn't even sure what she was suppoused to do. She bit her lip and settled for a little, respectful bow.

The king looked from Frost to Hawke and then back to Frost. "We need to talk about tonight's plans for your welcome back party." He reached over and grabbed Frost's shoulder and started to drag his son away. When they were still in Hawke's hearing rang, she heard the king say,"Who was that charming young lady, my son? I don't think I've been bowed to for years!"

Frost smirked a bit, turned around and flashed Hawke an evil smile. "Oh, she's an old friend of mine. Her name is Ti-Ara Calyway, but you can call her Ti for short." Their conversation was out of her hearing rang and Hawke spun on her heels and began walking towards her room.

She made sure to remember that name before she started sprouting swear words from her mouth faster than she could think of them. Some of them she didn't even know that she knew them, and the common ones got repeated a lot. But after she was finished with her cursing, she decided that she had better plan a way to get back at him for that evil comment right there. 

"I will repay you for that, Frost. Ti-Ara Calyway is out for blood." At the mention of her false name, she gave a shiver but kept on walking towards her room. She was going to make his feet pay for her name while they danced, she was sure of that. 

  
  


***

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	4. Bitter Sweet Ball

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter one!!!

  
  


Destiny's Fork

Chapter Four

"Bitter Sweet Ball"

By Magic

  
  


Being bordered up in her room was not the way that Hawke Leonhart had wanted to spend the day. Therefore, against generally everyone's orders, she gave herself a tour of the palace. There were three more libraries to be found, eight kitchens, and endless supplies of rooms. There was always the occasional door that was locked, but Hawke looked in all those that weren't. She found herself lost after and hour and couldn't really find heads or tails of anything. She finally found it to a place that might be somewhat interesting; the gym room.

She glanced around to make sure that no one else was there and let herself in. The room was covered with mats in some areas, a wooden dance floor or cement in others. There was even a swimming pool that looked like it was much longer than seemed necessary for a pool. She walked a bit forward, her boots taping lightly on the floor. Soon she was lying on the floor, her face burning from a foreign object's impact.

She opened her eyes, which she had shut after being bombarded with the object, and looked up. Her breathe had been knocked out of her so she didn't try to sit up just yet. A face appeared over her and gazed down at her.

"Shit! Why does this always happen to me!? Are you okay?!I didn't see you!" The newcomer asked frantically as he kneeled next to her and helped her sit up.

"I'm fine," was all Hawke could push out before she caught her breath. She looked over to the guy that was holding her up. His hair was best described as fire; red, orange, yellow and some places that cold looking white. His eyes were a dark shade of red, his face tan and slightly familiar looking. He seemed about Frost's height or so, and generally his build, though maybe a tad more built. She looked up into his eyes and realized with a start, that his face was probably the handsomest face she had ever seen. "It's okay, really."

She attempted to stand up, but her efforts were proven to be fruitless as she tipped over a bit, almost tumbling to the floor. The fire-head stood up with her and reached out to balance her as she spilled over, grabbing her around the shoulders and pulling her close.

Hawke, after coming out of her dizzy world, realized how close they were and couldn't help but turn at bright shade of red, probably coming close to the guy's hair. "Shit, shit, shit," she thought as she felt herself get even redder. They were generally in the hug position. If someone were to walk into that room right at that instant, this would not look good. He must have sensed what she was thinking and let her go. Still steadying her with his arm, he lead her over to the side wall and let her lean up against it.

Hawke soon caught her breath, thinking that if she hadn't of been unthinkingly hugged she would have caught it a lot sooner. She kept her face forward and tried to look like nothing really mattered and that nothing had happened, for the youth was staring at her intently.

"Tell me your name and it will be a good day."

Hawke just about jumped at the sound of his voice. What was her name?! She couldn't remember it, her heart was pounding too fast. "Ti....eh....Ti-Ara Calyway."

He moved from the wall to stand right in front of her. Kneeling on his knees, he reached up for her hand and gave it a soft kiss, his lips soft on her skin. Her redness increased ten fold as he looked up at her. "Well, Ti, it seems my soccer ball has an eye for beauty."

Hawke glanced over to the area that she had fallen down, seeing the soccer ball there. She looked back into his eyes and her heart just about skipped a beat. "He's too hot!" She almost laughed at that for the reason that his hair looked like fire. She didn't know whether it was her turn to talk or not, so she decided that she would just sit there stupidly.

The youth stood up and smiled down at her. She attempted not to get any redder, not that she thought that was possible because at this moment she was pretty sure that she was to her peak of tomatoness. She got an idea for conversation, "What's your name, now that you have mine?"

"Romeo," he cooed, "will you be my Juliet?" He smiled again, this time she realized that the smile seemed practiced; a player's smile.

This must have been the first turn off that she got from him. "He's probably used that line so many times I could puke," she thought, and just kept her smiling face on, trying not to laugh at him. "I don't know, I usually don't go out with people that kick soccer balls at my head," she said.

He seemed interested by this reply, as though no one had ever turned him down with that line in his life. She had to hold a snicker back at that as well because she was sure that even if she hadn't have seen his faked smile, she would have said no. She was torn between laughing in his face and kicking him in the shin for coming on to her with his sexual needs. She didn't do either because the door to the gym opened up right then, and in walked Frost.

Hawke sighed at the site of him; she couldn't kill him here with this guy standing in front of her. She turned to him and gave him a face, before going back to Romeo. But Romeo's face had changed. It almost looked like he was having problems holding up his practiced smile. The ends of his eyebrows bent down to show concentration. He was trying to look nice and kind, but he was obviously mad. She turned back to Frost in confusion. His face was the same as Romeo's, although he didn't attempt to hide his disdain.

The room all of a sudden felt very cold to her and she felt like she had to get out. She looked for somewhere to go, but it was either right into Frost's side, right into Romeo's front, or look very obvious to what she was doing by climbing over/under one of them. She felt Frost's hand slip onto her shoulder and rest there. She glanced over to him, but he was glaring at Romeo.

"Hello, brother," Romeo's friendly voice almost broke at the word brother and he seemed to be losing control of his masked expressions.

Frost just nodded to him and then looked down at Hawke, "The ball is soon. It's time to make a lady out of you."

"She," Romeo slithered up to Hawke's other side, "could go as is and be the most beautiful lady there." He placed his hand on her other shoulder.

Hawke highly doubted this and again would have been tempted to laugh if she didn't think it was very much so the wrong time for that. "Brother?" She asked herself as she turned and nodded to Frost that she was ready to go. She began walking with Frost leading towards the door that she came in from, when Romeo's hand turned her around.

"If you would promise me a dance, my lady." He bowed deep to her and then looked up at her through his fiery hair.

"Eh, sure," Hawke said, not really knowing how to reply. She watched as he stood up and strutted from the room. She blinked a couple of times before turning back to Frost keeping her voice to a whisper hissed, "what was that all about?! He's your brother?!"

"Most unfortunately," Frost growled as he watched Romeo's back disappear into another door on the opposite side. He then turned down to her and said simply, "come on, the maids want to have a little fun with dressing you up."

"Uh uh. You're not getting off the subject that easily. What's up between you two?" Hawke was suddenly questioning his back as he began walking through the halls. She had to take a few quick steps to catch up and looked at him from the side as they continued through the halls.

Frost just shook his head and kept on walking, refusing to answer any of her questions. Knowing that she would get nowhere with him, she just gave up and slumped along with him in silence. She felt slightly hurt that he wouldn't tell her anything, but she would live with it. She'd only known him for about a day or so. 

The past occurrences rushed up to her memory quickly and she just pushed them back. She didn't need to think about that right now, she had to do what she was sent to do, find the whatever the person was and ask them how to get her brother back so that he could save the world and everything would be fine. And also she could then live for more than just one year. She wondered whether or not she should tell Frost about her little curse, but judging from the expression that he boar, now was not the right time for that. 

They were soon up to her room and he left her there to get ready. She watches his back as he left, hands in his pockets, head slightly down at the floor. "Jeez, you're a confusing boy," she said to no one in particular before opening her doors and walking inside.

She turned to look at her room and a small hair ball leapt into her arms. He hid behind her head on her neck and started to growl at the three other people in the room. They were all dressed in the same clothing; a dark maroon dress, simple but elegant all the same, and their hair, two with brown and one blonde, was up in french braids down the side of their heads. They were the maids that Frost had mentioned earlier and they were all having a fit of giggles. Hawke grabbed SageJames off the back of her neck and looked down at the fox. 

His ears had small little green bows around them and his collar was now a lovely green bow tie. Hawke couldn't help but burst out laughing at the sight, it was so utterly ridiculous looking! SageJames showed his distaste for her laughter and lack of support against these evil intruders by nipping her on the side of the hand.

"Hey none of that now," she scolded, shaking a finger at him.

"You must be Hawke,"one of the brunette maids said to her.

"And this must be your cute lil pet!" Another brunette maid squealed, looking at SageJames, who in turn growled at her.

"And you had better be ready for us, because," the blonde yelled excitedly as all the maids gathered together and struck a pose, "we are going to make you the most beautiful lady at the ball!"

Hawke blinked twice before bursting out into a fit of laughter, along with all of the maids, who laughed as they ran around getting things ready for her.

"No pets now," the blonde said as she plucked SageJames out of Hawke's arms and threw him out the door and into the hall.

"I am Dipsy,"one of the brunettes said over her shoulder as she looked through the cupboards in search for something. 

"I'm Dixie," the other brunette said as she circled around Hawke, studying her.

"And I am Daisy!" Screamed the blonde as she pulled Hawke away from Dixie and into the bathroom. "Now, take off those clothes and hop into the tub!"

Hawke noticed the simmering tub of hot water that was placed in her bathroom. The rim was covered in bubbles and a rose aroma floated through the air. It looked wonderful. She waited until they had left the room until she stripped down and hopped into the tub. Almost immediately after she got in, her door burst open, and all three maids entered. 

They reached for the shampoo and began to wash her hair, much to her protests.

"Nobles don't wash their own hair! What are you talking about!?" Daisy said, almost horrified at the thought.

"Well, I'..."

"There is an exception to that though, Daisy," Dixie commented.

"Yeah, that cute prince doesn't even let the maids near his bath tube," Dispy finished for her.

"Which cute one?" Daisy asked.

"Why the one with the silver hair of course. Then again, he doesn't really take an interest to women like the rest of them do," Dixie replied as Hawke listened to the gossip in silence.

"At least not since....her," Dipsy commented.

Hawke's ears pricked up at the sound of that and her curiousness took over her thinking as well as her mouth. "'Her'?"

The three maids looked at each other as if the thought that she didn't know scared them all stiff. They all became deafly quiet and looked at each other, as if deciding which one should talk first. Dixie decided to explain.

"Er, well, you see. Prince Frost is one of six brothers, all of whom are quite good looking. Ladies in the court through themselves all over these guys, giving them everything they could ever want in return for maybe a look, a kiss." She glanced over to Dipsy to take over.

"Well, there are two princes that don't find that very attractive, and that would be Prince Frost and Prince Orion. They would probably refuse all the gifts in the world, even though Prince Orion does," she seemed to get a tad red at this part, "tend to like the kissing part, he would never bring a girl to his room."

"Anyway," Daisy said, braking in for the other maid so she could stop blushing, "the first born of the six was Prince Romeo. Being the first born, he was the one that would receive the kingdom-in short he would get the crown. To get the crown though, he must be married."

"The king, his father, set up a marriage for the young prince and he soon fell in love with her. But unknown to the public eye, Prince Frost had been seeing this young girl...."

"Who's name was Ti'Anya," Dixie broke in.

With a glare, Daisy continued, "and the two were already deeply in love. At the news of Ti'Anya's engagement to Frost's brother, the two were devastated. Neither of them knew what to do with this trouble. Frost brought this forward to his father, but the wedding plans had already been arranged and also the sliver prince wasn't the son that the parent's of the girl wanted her to marry. The parents wanted her to be queen, and to rule over the kingdom; they cared nothing about her happiness and her heart. They ordered her to marry Romeo or they would disown her."

Dixie decided to finish the story, "and so the marriage was to be that very next morning. Everything was all ready, except for the hearts of the two lovers who would now be separated. Ti'Anya must have felt so hopeless like there wasn't anywhere to turn at all, and so she took her life, the night before the wedding by taking a poison that kills even the strongest of people over time. She was gone from this world by morning."

Hawke wasn't sure whether it was the steam from the bath water or the fact that she wouldn't have ever guessed this in the world about her new friend that hung heavily in the air. All of the maids seemed to get quiet after that moment before Dipsy spoke up, "we used to be her maid. She had the most beautiful green hair we have ever seen. I don't think that anyone could have matched her in beauty, and the fact that she loved that prince with all her heart, made her even more lovely. It's beyond me how that boy can live on these days."

If a chicken singing songs had just leapt through the door and started square dancing, it would have not phased her at all. All of her evil plans to kick the crap out of Frost at that nights ball fade from her mind. She didn't know what to say or do. The other maids left the room, leaving her with a towel to dry off with and a night gown to dress herself in before she came out. She crawled out of the tub reluctantly and slipped on the thin, white robe before walking into the adjacent room. In a flash all of the maids where around her, doing more things that she could keep track of. Soon her hair was up, leaving but one braid that snaked out of her hair and ran along her neck in a choker necklace like fashion. Her eyes were adorned with a light, baby blue shadow and her lips with a soft hint of silver. She looked in the mirror and blinked at herself.

"That's not ME is it?" she asked in almost utter stupification.

The maids all burst out laughing and then walked over to her once again. 

"Time for the dress!" Dipsy said with much excitement.

"Ahh! No one said anything about wearing a dress!" Hawke backed up until she was just about hugging the wall. "Dresses are evil!"

The maids lunged at her and picked her off the wall. "Oh they're not that bad!" said one of them as the other commented, "this is a fun dress anyway, it's a Medieval ball tonight!"

Hawke just shook and attempted to look for some other excuse, but none came. In the end, she ended up lifting her hands above her head and letting them but the dress on her. Afterwards, they added the finishing touches and let her look at herself in the mirror once again. Right at that moment, Frost's voice could be heard from outside the door.

"You done yet?!" He called through the thick, wooden doors.

"Hold on!" Hawke yelled right back as she put her shoes on.

Frost let out an exasperated sigh and began walking down the stairs towards the hallway. He had gotten down about half of them before he heard the door opening. "This better be goo-" He stopped after turning around. "She looks gorgeous,"he thought with a gulp. "You look like a Princess."

"What? Stupid, dittzy, and clueless?"Hawke replied to what she figured as an insult as she stepped down the stairs towards him, looking him in the eyes once she was a step above him.

Frost took up her little game of nasty remarks and shot one right back at her, "you pull it off nicely," he said as he took her arm in his.

"But not as well as you could," Hawke shot right back as she smirked the rest of the way down the stairs. Then she remembered what had happened to him in the past and bit her lip. "Be nice, be nice, be nice, be nice," she scolded herself.

They entered the main ball room. It felt like something out of a picture book to Hawke. The chandeliers were adorned with thousands of glittering crystals, the dishes pure silver, and the spoons to match. The main dancing part of the floor was solid glass over a large fish tank. She was a little scared of walking on it at first; the water looked deep and some of the fish didn't look all that nice. But then Frost saw her timidness and proved that nothing would happen by jumping on the floor.

"Thanks," she mumbled to him as he led her into the middle of a large group of people.

She had thought that her dress was something special, but once she was standing next to all the ladies, she suddenly felt very plain and boring. She also felt like she stuck out like a duck in a basket of rubber duckies. All the ladies seemed to have the perfect smiles, the perfect ways to charm a man, the perfect language. They all spoke very well educated, sometimes using words that Hawke wouldn't even think of using, not because she didn't know them, but just because they seemed to formal. Before she new it, she was surrounded by a bunch of them. They didn't take much interest in her though, they had came to see the prince. Some even saw he was holding her arm and would give her dirty looks. She felt very alone at the moment.

She made a game to see how many people she could avoid talking to just by nodding and smiling. Suddenly a lady in a very elaborate dress came up and stood next to her. Hawke's heart seemed to keel over at the moment; the lady was one of Zula's people, the half person, half dog kind. She then remembered how she and Zula always made fun of the nobles when they stayed her village. So well kept, educated and dressed; they had seemed like dolls to them. And now she was surrounded by them, without her great friend to laugh about them with.

She closed her eyes and saw her friend smiling at her, frowning in the loving, scolding way, and then falling. Her eyes snapped open. She had wanted to forget everything, forget everyone. But she new that it would be too hard to do so. The ghosts of her past were everywhere. And now without her brother to turn to, she felt more alone than ever. 

Even if Frost was an okay guy, he was still a noble. He probably didn't care much about her as a friend besides the fact that she was the only one that could save the world. And then there was Kayra, the piolet. She had saved her from her brother, but why? They didn't really know each other and in fact, had never spoken a word with her before. And then there was these people. She glanced around herself at all the high esteem people. These people that would probably love to see her die right there and then so that Frost's other arm would be open and more of them could hang on him. She couldn't handle it anymore.

She slowly slipped her arm out of Frost's and walked towards the exit. The room became blurry half way and she had to run the rest so that no one would see her cry. She rammed right into a servant carrying a tray, but just kept running until she couldn't run anymore in the shoes they had given her. She looked around her and realized that she was by a door to one of the gardens. 

She opened the door and slipped outside into the cool air. As she walked around to the left she realized that she could see in the ball room through the windows. The walls were almost completely windows and she sat down on a bench outside and just gazed in. She whipped the tears off of her face and forced herself not to cry any longer. Self pity was one of the worst things to fall into and she didn't want anyone that might be taking a midnight stroll to see her crying either. 

She lay her head in her hands and stared at the people through the windows. Laughing, gossiping, dancing. They all seemed so happy. Hawke suddenly felt almost bad for running out on Frost. He had obviously left the ball room as well because she couldn't see him anywhere. She could see his brother Romeo though. He seemed engaged in a deep discussion about, well, she couldn't hear him but it must have been interested because over thirty girls were listening to him. She sighed and stood up, only to just about head ram into someone else's body.

She glanced up, "Frost?! What are you doing out here?"

"What are you doing out here?" He replied. He had looked a bit concerned, but it faded once he heard the tone of her voice.

"I guess I'm just not made for that kind of party," she said as she turned around to walk back in. 

"We're leaving tonight."

She turned back around slowly and looked at him. "You'd better start getting ready now," he said and then smirked. "It'll work as an excuse to be absent from the party."

She let out a small laugh and then kept walking towards the door, slowly so that he could catch up. "Not that I have much to pack."

"Oh, but you've got loads to do, right?" He winked at her and then went his way, not to the ball room but to his room, or so she guessed.

It took her awhile to realize what had just happened. He had helped her out, and maybe even tried to cheer her up. "Or maybe," she thought, "he was just being his usual wise cracking self." She shrugged and continued walking towards her room. Either or, he had pulled her out of her self pity stage.

  
  


****

  
  


Everything was packed, then again, it had only taken about five minutes to do so, but Hawke was planning on spending the rest of the night in her room. She had changed out of the 'stupid, stupid' dress and into her normal skirt and lace-up shirt. There was nothing else to do but go to the party. She sat on the soft bed and listened to the party sounds off in the distance. The classical music made her want to get up and dance.

She looked up from the floor to SageJames that was curled up on a pillow at the end of her bed. She smirked and then lifted him up into her arms. He gave her a groggy, 'what the hell are you doing?' sort of look as she grabbed his two front paws and held him out in front of her.

"Dance, SageJames, Dance!" She cried out at she spun around the floor with the fox in her hands.

The door creaked and a form walked in. "May I break in?"

"SageJames is a much better dancer than you are Frost," Hawke retorted, recognizing his voice.

He winced and looked at the fox. "You're right, his form is much better. My compliments, Sir Fox."

The fox gave him a 'damn straight' look of complete arrogance and pulled himself out of Hawke's arms. 

"Hey now! Don't you like dancing with me?" Hawke leaned down and looked the fox in the eyes.

For a second it seemed that he was actually going to answer her, his eyes flashed with intelligence but then it swiftly faded and he walked over to his pillow once again.

"You just don't fit up to his standards I guess," Frost joked and he walked further into her room.

She straightened up and looked over towards him. He had changed as well. Instead of looking severely princely now, he looked like a normal person, except for his almost perfect posture and his slightly, lifted chin. Hawke looked him up and down, seeing what a prince would wear on his 'day off'. Black, baggy pants, black leather boots, black, zip-up vest with silver, jagged, swirly designs over it, the exact color of his hair. He realized that she was looking him over and asked, "what? Do I have something on my ass?" He turned around so his back side was facing her and attempted to look at his ass.

"Eh....no. I was just seeing what princes wear for normal clothes," she had gone back to organizing her things, for the second time, in her small back pack and hadn't seen his stunt.

He sighed, "The prince thing again...just don't start bowing to me and calling me your lord."

"Wasn't planning on it," Hawke said bluntly and she hefted her black, leather backpack up onto her back. She suddenly realized that they each were wearing mostly black--must be some trend.

"Ready?"

"That I am." She reached out for SageJames, but he leapt onto her backpack and settled down on the top of it. He didn't feel like having to dance again. "Okay, have it your way."

They both turned towards the door and exited the room. After a maze of hallways, they finally came upon what Hawke would have to guess was Frost's room. She let him open the door and led her in.

"Most defiantly Frost's room," Hawke thought as she looked around. The old fashion met new fashion with thousands of electrical things all over the place. It had to have taken a fortune just to buy half of the stuff he had lying around. And it was neat, too neat, princely neat. She shivered. Rooms were meant to be messy, that's why they invented the vacuum. 

She suddenly realized, happily, that they were not alone in the room. Kayra was there, the girl that had saved them all with her fancy flying. She was wearing a pink, triangle type shirt that had to thin straps holding it up on the top and then two that laced in the back. It was level in the top part but at the bottom, turned into a point of a triangle. Her bottoms were a leather, light brown pair of pants that had laces up both sides to about the area that shorts would start . She wore a long trench coat, much like that of her brother's, a color that was warms to match the pink and light brown. At her side stood a staff with a couple pink and yellow beads on the ends. Leather was wrapped around it so it wouldn't be slippery. It was obviously her main weapon of choice. 

She smiled kindly as the two walked in and ran up to Hawke. "Are you ok?! Last time I saw you, you were close to bittin' the big one!"

Hawke just nodded, slightly taken back by her forwardness and kindness.

Frost, who had gone over to rummage in something yelled over, "yeah, the healers did a good job."

Hawke just kept on nodding until she finally came out of it enough to realize that there was yet another person in the room with them. She peaked around Kayra's shoulder to see someone that she vaguely remembered from somewhere. "Eh, who are you, 'cuz you seem really familiar?" 

The guy looked at Hawke and smiled, showing a row of perfectly white teeth. "I'm that ungrateful butt's bro." He hopped off the bed and walked over to the two girls.

"Oh yeah!" Hawke was surprised that she could have forgotten from that day.

The black haired prince gave Hawke a slight bow and continued talking in an easy going voice. "You seem much better, glad to see it. Yes, I'm Orion of Trabia, second youngest of all the sons, even though we are all the same age, separated by just minutes...but it's fun to tease the youngest about his slow reaction time." He tilted his head towards Frost. He was in the exactly same clothes that he had been before; black riding boots with ridding pants and a black shirt that lace up a bit at the top. Hawke was now certain that everyone around must wear black, with the exception of Kayra.

"Do you guys....all wear black?" Hawke asked as she looked back between Frost and Orion. 

Both of the brothers looked towards each other with a knowing look and then burst out laughing. Orion opened his hands toward Hawke and shock them in the air in a signal of no no no no no no. Once the two stopped laughing, and realized that Hawke was glaring at them because she hated not being included in inside jokes, Orion decided to explain. "Well, I'm sure you see by now that our hair color isn't quite....normal? Our father generally decides what we wear and he loves to dress us up by hair color, making some of out brothers," he let out a little cough that could be guessed as a laugh, "go outside wearing quite interesting colors."

"And I don't want to blind anyone," Frost said as he walked away from whatever it was he was doing, carrying a bag and smirking, "I refrain from wearing silver, so black is the closest thing that looks good on me."

The two girls, even though they had just met, looked at each other at the same time as well and gave each other a knowing look and burst out laughing. The vision of Frost walking around in bright silver clothes was just too much for her. Through her laughter she managed to get out, "But, it would just fit so well." That was about all anyone said for the next five minutes as all of them attempted to stop laughing. They really didn't until they all had trouble breathing and had to stop for fear of death.

Frost looked between the three of the others in the room and asked, "time to go?"

The others picked up their bags that had been lying on the floor and nodded. "Off to see the wizard," Orion said as he grabbed Hawke's arm and pulled her out of the door skipping. 

Hawke laughed and then started singing with him as well. Soon Frost grabbed her other arm and Kayra Orion's last arm and they were skipping through the halls of the palace, singing and laughing and skipping.

When the everything had stopped (the laughing and singing....not the skipping) Hawke inquired, "is this normal behavior for princes?"

Frost and Orion looked at each other and said in perfect unison, "normalcy is over rated." And they continued to skip down the halls. The sounds of the ball got louder and louder as they skipped down flights of stairs, getting closer to the front gate...slowly but surely. Laughing and conversation filled their ears as did the orchestra live music. They were starting towards the docking bay for the ships when Hawke heard something strange.

"Hey...people...hear that?" She stopped the skipping line and everyone else stopped with her.

"I don't hear anything," Kayra replied looking around them.

"Exactly."

They all looked towards the ball room as a loud voice started bellowing through the halls. It was Romeo's voice, loud but not clear. They couldn't quite understand what he was saying. 

Frost rolled his eyes and grumbled, "he's just making another stupid speech, come on."

The other's turned to go when suddenly they heard a completely alien sound coming from the ball room, it was screaming. The whole castle had erupted with the frantic screams of the people who had just before been laughing.

"What the hell?!" Orion yelled as he started dashing for the ball room doors. The others followed in hot pursuit, but to no avail. Gun fire sounded from inside the walls but they could do nothing; the doors were locked.

  
  


****

  
  


****************************************************************************************************************


	5. Life Goes On

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  
  


Destiny's Fork

Chapter Five

"Life Goes On"

By Magic

  
  


Everyone slammed their shoulders into the door at the count of three. It was the third time doing this before they finally got anywhere; the door creaked a bit. Hawke had checked the door to the outside but found this also locked and came running back to the rest of them.

"What the hell is going on?!" Frost looked like he was going to kill someone; Hawke stayed a bit away from him before looking towards the door.

"Eh...folks...not to sound redundant, but...hear that?" Hawke asked the crowd as they all looked towards the doors.

The four just looked at each other and started hammering their shoulders into the door faster; the screaming had stopped.

The door suddenly opened and the four, who would've hit the floor with great force, flew into the ball room and instead rammed into the floor. They struggled to pick themselves off and saw what had happened. Everyone lay dead on the floor-everyone. There wasn't a living person in sight, besides three figures standing in the front of the room, opposite of them.

The one on the right side seemed to want to run at them and kill them at the moment they stood up, but the one in the center calmed him with a touch of her hand on his shoulder. The women in the middle had bright white hair that draped down to her mid thighs. It wasn't the white of an old woman's hair, but the white of a natural color, that of snow when it sparkles in the early morning. She wore an elegant gown, rich purple in color, that reached to the floor and flowed on behind her, in a small train. Two beautiful, white angel's wings framed her figure; she was gorgeous. 

But the face she wore was almost as if the painter of this picture had taken someone else's face and put it on hers. It was a look of pure evil and hatred. Hawke took a slow step back, reaching for the door. There was something about her, she just couldn't put her finger on it. Even with that evil look, Hawke felt like running up to her. Her soul tugged in the way of the beautiful woman, but her feet were forced back by that cruel face.

With difficulty, she took her eyes off the lady and to the man on her left. He had bright red, fire hair--"holy shit! It's Romeo!" Hawke thought as she glanced towards the others. Both of the princes had obviously figured that one out, because they both wore a face of pure confusion. Kayra, who didn't know Romeo and obviously didn't have any weird connection to the woman in the middle, decided to speak up as she screamed across the room, "Who the hell are you and what have you done?!"

"I, my dear lady with extremely large lung capacity, am Ultimecia," the woman took a couple steps forward, leaving the two men at her side back.

"I've seen pictures of Ultimecia! She had black hair and wings, not white. What do you take us for? Fools?" Orion had obviously come out of his stupor.

"Fools? Fools jump to conclusions quickly. Yes, fools is a great word for you. I am Ultimecia, this is my second body, so to speak. But enough about that," she was walking closer and closer to them, the men staying only a few feet behind her.

As they got closer, Hawke kept on getting farther away. There was something about her, Hawke new it. She wasn't scared of her, quite the opposite. But she was confused.

"I've come here to take you," she looked at both the princes. "If you come with me, you shall be greatly rewarded," she lifted her hand up and formed a small, black ball. It crackled once and awhile with lightning. Both of the princes and Kayra backed up to Hawke's level. 

Orion and Frost looked at each other for a split second and then each grabbed a girl's hand and pulled them out of the ball room and towards the stairs.

"Time to exit!" She heard Frost mumble under his breath.

"You're just going to let her go?!" Kayra demanded as she was pulled along by Orion.

"There's nothing we can do," Hawke heard Frost mumble under his breath.

The white woman took a few steps forward towards the group that was taking off. She turned to the man on her right. He was fully armored at the moment and seemed ready to kill something. His handsome face topped off his sturdy built body. He couldn't be more than the other one, the boy to her left, but he sure new how to fight. He was her number one soldier, the one that took care of all the little problems that popped up here and there. He looked towards her, his gaze burning with the want to kill. Ultmecia shrugged and then looked forward to the stairs that the group was climbing very quickly. "I want the princes back, alive."

"And the others, milady?" He asked in a deep voice as he bowed to her.

She yawned as if that subject bored her, "kill them. Have a little fun if you wish."

The armored man nodded and started trotting towards the steps. No use to hurry, this was going to be easy.

The woman turned to the prince at her side. "Ready the ship, the moon is still full. We shall do this tonight."

Romeo bowed deeply to the sorceress and ran on his way.

  
  


***** 

  
  


It only took them about five minutes to get to the ship area that would have supposedly taken fifteen minutes to run to. Frost was completely out of breath and was quite sure that everyone else was as well. He kept them running though, there was no way that they could stop now. They would die if they did.

The girls now ran slightly ahead of them, but Orion's command so that they could protect them. Hawke didn't seem too hot on the subject, but there was no time to object to anything. They entered the docking bay and Orion flew to the controls. He punched a few buttons and the six, hard steel doors that held the way to the docking bay began to open.

"Kayra, you first. Get the ship ready to leave and make sure to close the doors if anything bad happens. It's a small red button by the control panel. You have to get Hawke out of here no matter what. Go!" Orion screamed at her. There was only enough room for one person to walk through the doors so far; they took a long time to open and close. He glanced towards his brother who was guarding the doorway. "Hawke, you go through after she gets the ship ready, until then, help Frost with the door. Frost you'r...."

"I'm going last, thanks for the thought though. You're after Hawke."

The black haired prince just nodded; Frost seemed determined to guard them until the last second. Hawke heard the sound of an engine starting in the distance and began running through the fully opened doors. She was all the way through when she turned around at the sound of gunfire.

  
  


*****

  
  


Frost stood ready at the door as Hawke left his side to run for the ship. He wasn't going to let anything through. He glanced back as Orion was reading himself to run through the doors, still holding down the open button on the control panel to make the doors open faster.

He kept looking down at the stairs; they should have caught up with them already. Unless...

His heart skipped a beat and he turned around. There was another door off to the side. He had completely forgotten. It was just beginning to swing open as Frost got his bearings. The armored, bulky man walked in, his line perfectly aimed at Orion. "No!" Frost screamed as he threw himself towards his brother. He heard gunfire erupt seconds before a jolt came to his body. He fell to the floor with a thud, more pain spreading in his shoulder.

Frost began to kneel down next to him, but Frost pushed him away. "Run! NOW!" 

Orion followed his directions and took off; Frost had just risked his life for his, he was going to make the best out of it. Orion sped through the doors, just as the sound of breaking glass reached their ears.

Monsters were crawling through the windows in the control room. Frost pushed himself to his feet and began running towards the doors. A tentacle from something green and slimy reached out and grabbed his mid section though, before he could get very far. The armored man was having the same trouble; he was almost completely tangled in the gross tentacles of something greatly nasty.

Orion was making his way towards his brother to help as another tentacle stretched in through one of the docking bay windows with a crash. It grabbed him around the mid section and flung him out the window. He didn't even have the chance to scream before he was flying through the air.

Hawke just stood there dumbly; she had no idea what to do.

  
  


*****

  
  


Kayra was sitting up in the cockpit watching this all and having a debate with herself. Orion was gone, there was no way that they could get him back now, but Frost was still struggling with the plant things in the other room. He was still alive. But Orion had told her to close the doors if anything happened and to get Hawke out there. But Orion wasn't there anymore. She didn't know what to do, so she stood up.

She didn't even glance over as she hammered the blue button into the wall, and watched as the doors slowly began to close.

  
  


*****

  
  


This was ridiculous, he had came here to get the princes, not fight with a meat eating plant like thing. The armored man struggled and fought for something to do. The face of the plant thing was the best place to aim. He only had one bullet left, so he had to make this good. One shot in the eye should do it. But the prince was in the way.

He leveled his gun at the prince, and the eye. Stupid princes. All ration was gone from him. He didn't care what the sorceress had said, he wanted to live. He steadied his gun as much as he could with a plant holding on to him and shaking him. He took careful aim and pulled the trigger.

The bullet flew straight and true, right through the prince's heart and into the plants eye, then it's brain. The plant sputtered and died, dropping the dead weight of the prince to the floor. The armored man untangled himself from the tentacles and started walking over to the body, blood already pouring all over the floor.

  
  


*****

  
  


Hawke watched the man aim. She watched him pull the trigger. And then she watched her new friend drop to the floor, dead the instant the bullet ran through his heart. Her head screamed; who could he do that?! Her mouth screamed, yet no sound came out.

She took off through the slowly closing doors. Rational thought was behind her. That was enough deaths of friends, someone was going to have to pay. She didn't care what was going to happen to her, all she could think about was saving Frost, in some way. 

Half way through the doors, she was hit with a strange force, and all of a sudden....

  
  


*~*

  
  


She was standing in the middle of a field. It seemed like a field that hadn't gotten any water in years. The plants were all dead, the crispy stems sticking out of the ground. She pushed them away as she began walking around. The air was cold and blew across her face, chilling her head to foot. 

"What the hell?" She asked no one, her voice sounding meek and small in this field.

"Those are bad words, lady," a small, girlish voice said from behind her.

Hawke spun on her heels to look behind her. There stood a child, about seven or eight years old and only about three feet tall. She was dressed in just a rags for a dress, all dark and dirtied. Her face was clean though, and so was her three feet long, blonde hair. Her blue eyes seemed smart, too smart for a girl of that age. At her side, she carried a small, yellow stuffed animal, hanging by it's tail.

"Where am I? What is this?" Hawke asked the girl kindly, her voice shaking.

The girl looked up at her and smiled slightly. "You're love for others brought you here."

Hawke still wore the face of confusion so the girl went on.

"You thought of nothing but finding that young man's life again and so you were brought here, to meet her."

Hawke's eyes snapped wider open. The book; the way to save her brother; she had to find that lady of death. The only way to find her, was not to think about it at all. She had done it, not even trying to. She opened her mouth to speak, but the girl just shook her head.

"You're here now, not to save your brother, but to save the prince. Don't think about it now," the girl held out her hand, in it was a small vile with blue sparkly stuff in it, encased in a silver bottom and binding. The binding was a fairy and the fairy held a loop hole in which a small, silver chain held from. "You can call her later with this. Just sprinkle some on yourself and she will come." The little girls smiled as she held out the necklace for Hawke.

Hawke took it and then with a jolt remember about Frost. "Is there anything I can do for him?" 

The little girl nodded and produced another necklace. The end was a small, rock like thing that glowed with a dim blue light. It was on a sting of pure silver with a hoop on the end. To put it around your neck as a necklace, you would stick the rock through the hop and pull. It was eerily beautiful. Hawke took it from the girl's out stretched hand. "What is it?"

"Doesn't matter, it will bring him back. Put it around his neck. Unfortunately, you are the one that is going to have to get his soul." The girl turned around and began to walk away.

"Get his soul?! I don't know how to do that!"

The little girl just turned around and looked at her, "You will be able to find out. It will come naturally."

The wind picked up and the girl vanished from site.

  
  


*~*

  
  


Hawke was hit by reality as though it was a steam roller. She swallowed and realized that she was still standing between the closing doors, no time had passed. She took up a run through the remaining doors and came out standing in front of the armored man and Frost's dead body.

The man looked up at her with a scowl, one that she returned ten fold. She was so angry. Everything that had happened to her had been the sorceresses fault, and he was one of her minions.

"What are you doing here, little lady." The man walked closer to her, his face glowing with evil. "It's time for you to meet your little friend."

"Nah, I don't think so," the anger had reached it's top in Hawke. Suddenly she felt something in her snap and she was engulfed in a bright white, and then a darkness as she fell into unconsciousness.

  
  


*****

  
  


Hawke opened her eyes. She was dead tired. She glanced around her; there was almost nothing in the room. No more monster pant things, the armored man was lying in the corner, his chest slowly rising and falling-alive. But she could see that he was out for awhile, whatever had done that.

She stood up and walked over to Frost's limp body. There was blood everywhere and she had to swallow the urge to throw up. She turned him over so that his face looked at the ceiling and took the necklace out of her pocket in her skirt, where she had stuck it before.

She worked as if she was in a dream world, refusing to believe that this was happening, feeling nothing but her aching body straining to move the ways she wanted it to. The fairy necklace thumped against her chest as she slung the necklace around Frost's neck.

"There," she thought as she looked down at him. "Now what?"

The necklace seemed to be shining brighter. She reached her hand to touch it and was again thrust into darkness.

  
  


*****

  
  


She opened her eyes, but it was still dark. Or so she thought until she looked at herself. She could see herself clearly, everything else was dark. There was nothing; no sound but her breathing, no air moving, not hot, not cold. Nothing.

She looked down to see what she was standing on. Nothing. Just blackness all around her. She attempted walking, but she couldn't move at all. She couldn't do anything with her legs, though she tried and strained.

Hawke stopped and glanced around herself again. It was still black, unchanging. She strongly wanted to see Frost, to get him out of here, to be back there, where ever there was. She suddenly felt her foot move. Just a small space, but still, it moved.

She blinked and thought about Frost again, just to test out if she was right. Her foot moved a bit farther. She started concentrating on everything that she knew about him; silver hair, silver-blue eyes, taller than her, slightly built but not macho. When she ran out of physical features she started thinking about his attitude, his voice, his past love.

Soon she was easily taking steps. She was sure that she was going the right way, not really knowing how she was doing so, but there was something that told her this was the only way. Suddenly a small blue stream of light flowed underneath her, guiding her to him.

She kept thinking about him and started running. 

It was hard to tell whether or not she was actually getting anywhere. There were no landmarks to mark how far she had gone, but she felt that she had run forever. She wasn't going to give up, she wouldn't leave until she found him.

That was when she saw him, standing there in the middle of the blackness. Suddenly it wasn't just black anymore, she was in a small house. It was picturesque. Small windows, with curtains over them. Little dishes and furniture everywhere. It was almost too perfect. Hawke shivered.

Frost was standing right in front of her, but he couldn't seem to see her. A girl walked in from an adjacent door and over to Frost. He smiled and hugged her tightly. Her hair was green, her dress to match; she was gorgeous. Hawke knew instantly who it was, Frost's old love.

They still didn't seem to realize that she was standing right there. She walked over to Frost and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Frost?"

He slowly turned around and looked at her. "H--Hawke? But how?"

The girl in green was busy making lunch. She didn't seem to be able to see Hawke at all. Obviously, it didn't bother her that Frost was talking to 'nothing'.

"I can't explain, but you have to come back with me."

"Why?"

Hawke suddenly felt a jolt. Why did she want him back so much? He was her friend, her last one in the world. He had saved her life, and she his. But why did she want him back so bad. "Because I need your help." It's seemed like the reasonable thing to say. "I can't do this all alone. I don't even know where to start!" Hawke was becoming frantic, because Frost and the house seemed to be fading away from her. 

He just looked at her dully as if she was talking in some weird language. He was getting lighter and lighter, fading away with the house. Hawke had to do something.

"PLEASE!!!!!!!" She screamed louder than she ever had, her vocal cords straining at the pressure she was putting on them. "Don't you want to avenge your brothers?!"

Suddenly the house was gone, fade from site, but Frost was still standing in front of her. He had decided to come back. 

Hawke took a couple of deep breaths. "You scared me there."

He just nodded and looked around him at the blackness. Hawke reached slowly out for his hand and when the two touched and locked eyes, the both were slammed back to the physical world.

  
  


*****

  
  


Frost opened his eyes slowly and looked around his setting. There was nothing in the room but him, Hawke, and the armored man that was sitting in the corner, snoring. He sat up slowly and realized that Hawke's head was resting on his chest, her back rising and falling slowly with her calm breaths.

He reached down to shake her awake, and thought better of it. She looked very tired. He just slowly snuck out from under her and lifted her body up. 

It was funny, being alive again.

His body didn't ache at all, in fact, he couldn't even believe that he had just been dead. But for some odd reason, he was so happy he was alive again that he almost woke up Hawke to hug her and thank her for everything. He wasn't sure why, because he could've spent eternity with Ti'Anya, his love, but there was something about being alive.

He quickly walked over to the ship and climbed up the docking plank. Kayra was there to great them. 

"What the hell happened?!" She was almost in a panic with everything. 

"Later." He replied, in no mood to explain everything at the moment. "That guy may wake up anytime, we have to leave as soon as possible."

"Well, I don't want to ruin your day or anything, but we can't on this thing. There was a large amount of magic just released and it screwed up all the controls." Kayra motioned around to all the smoking controls and the damage done to the ship. "And, I know for a fact, that this is the only ship that did work. We're stuck."

Frost was forced to think and act quickly. "We're going to escape into the woods then. There's a stairway from the door on the side that the armored guy came in through that goes to ground level. We'll escape through the forest." He began walking quickly towards the door, Kayra in tow.

It was hard going down the stair well carrying Hawke but he managed and soon they were standing on the ground, sprinting for the protective cover of the forest. They reached it quickly and kept running. Frost had chosen the general direction of a town that was the closest one that he knew of. Unfortunately, it would take awhile to get there. 

They ran on until the night became day, then stopped to put up camp. They still had the packs and things that they were going to bring with them on the way out, with the exception of Orion's. Luckily, they had brought some food with them as well, because both of them were too tired to do any hunting or fishing. They munched on some food before going to sleep on the forest floor.

  
  


*****

  
  


The sound of glass breaking echoed around the dark cavern. Ultimecia was not in a good mood. That was the fifth wine glass she had broken that day, and she wasn't getting any happier. She glared at the two humans in front of her with distaste. She walked over to the armored one and gripped him by his hair. 

"Daldera," she growled out his name with venom. "You let them escape. You know how much I detest that."

She walked around, dropping his hair and then grabbing and twisting his ear until it almost snapped off. His face contorted into pain and he howled out an answer. "It's not my fault. He," he glanced over to Romeo, "killed off all of the palace guards, letting the monsters get in. I wouldn't have had any trouble i..." He was cut off as the sorceress yanked his ear harder, than shot a blaze of fire through her finger tips to his face, scorching it. 

"I. Hate. Excuses, Daldera. You know that. If it wasn't for our prince friend over there, we would have had a much harder time getting into that ball. Now, what are you going to do for me? Hmmm?" She let go of his ear and walked back up to her thrown, sliding into it.

Daldera gasped for breath before answering her through a mask of pain, his face felt like it was melting. "Find them, milady."

"And who are we NOT going to kill this time?"

Gulp. "The princes."

"Very good, maybe you should thank that girl for brining the silver haired one back. She generally saved your life. Now, get out of my face." The sorceress turned away from him and looked towards the fiery haired prince. "You know what this delay means?"

The prince nodded/bowed respectively. "We are going to have to wait until the next full moon to continue."

"And how long is that?" She released with a snarl.

"About a year, Lady Sorceress," he replied equally respectively.

The sorceress threw yet another of her wine glasses at the floor. "Go, check on your three other brothers. Make sure they have enough to survive on in a year. We need to keep all you alive."

Romeo bowed and left the room to do as she bid.

She smiled at his back as he was leaving. He had no idea what was in store for him.

  
  


*****

  
  


Hawke pried her eyes open with great difficulty. She felt like she just got ran over by a bus. Her hole body ached, and to top that off, she was hungry, dreadfully hungry. She pushed herself off the ground and looked around her.

Frost. Kayra. Fire. That was about all there was in the small clearing they had stopped in. She couldn't remember how she got her, so she derived that she had slept the hole way. She looked around at their packs and had one thought. Food.

There wasn't much there, just some cheese, bread, and dried meats and fruits, but it was enough to fill her up for a bit. She stood up and looked around their setting. The woods seemed very nice to her. The trees waved in the breeze, the birds chirped. If she hadn't known that the woods housed many deadly animals and monsters, she would be perfectly at home.

She thought about that. Where was her home? The desert? The orphanage? She walked a little ways away from the camp site and kneeled down by a stream to look at her reflection. Who was she anyway? Soon to be savior of the world?

She splashed the image away. She sure didn't feel like it.

She sat on a rock by the bank and thought for awhile. She wasn't sure what about until the image of the white lady, Ultimecia. She had killed her brother, maybe that's why she wanted to walk up to her. 

The longer Hawke thought about that, the more she rejected the idea. No, there was something more to her that just that. She didn't fit the body, what she had called her second body. It had to be someone else's. That thought just grossed Hawke out fully. She made herself stop thinking about it.

Then she thought about Frost and saving him. That had certainly been interesting. She felt kind of bad for whisking him away from his love like that, but there was something about him that she wanted to keep close to her. "He has no home anymore either," she thought. She had seen his father dead in the ball room, he must have noticed as well. Yet he still reacted fine. He had been the quickest one to react to almost every situation. She envied that. He was strong, much stronger than her.

Then again she couldn't stand death. Everywhere that she saw death, her mind went blank. Like someone had blew a fuse in her brain. Death was so stupid, it was retarded, it was----the necklace the little girl had given to her bumped against her chest. 

She reached down to look at it more closely. It was very finely made. Beautiful to a fault. She opened the wooden stopper on the top and looked around her. Might as well meet this lady now, when she had the chance. She poured a small amount of the sparkly stuff into her hand and threw it on her head. 

Nothing happened for awhile and Hawke began to worry that she had done something wrong, or it was just a big joke. But then the wind picked up for a bit. When it settled she heard the child's voice from behind her and she jumped off the rock and almost into the stream.

"Hello hi," the child said happily in greeting, laughing as Hawke splashed around in the river.

"I thought..."

"You thought you were going to see the Guardian of Death, didn't you?" The girl smiled at Hawke even harder than she had before. Hawke just nodded and watched the child as she stood up. "Well, this is her!"

Hawke's jaw dropped in complete confusion. "What?!"

"That's me!" The girl suddenly scowled and looked down at herself. "Dang all these changes...hold please."

Hawke just watched in amazement as the girl changed in front of her. She grew two feet taller, but her hair stayed the same length. A black, flowing dress replaced the rags she had been wearing. Like lightning, two black wings erupted from her back; fairy's wings. She carried a sharp weapon with a weird, twirled blade on each end. Her face was more mature, her intelligent eyes looked natural with the more grown up body and face. Hawke almost fell over.

"Understand now?"

"Eh.....yeah.....hi...." Hawke wasn't quite sure what was the correct way to greet the Guardian of Death.

"Oh don't be so worried, anyone that can find me usually has a good cause."

Hawke opened her mouth to ask about Squall, but the fairy kept on talking anyway, "I know what is wrong. I'll tell you how to fix it. But first, my name is Cat."

"Oh, er, hi Cat."

"We're past that now my child. Now listen carefully, for this is the only way to save your brother." Hawke nodded for her to go on.

"There is a blade, that when used correctly, can cut through the very spirit of a person, right down to their soul. This is what Ultimecia used on your brother. She cut out his soul and it now keeping it, just in case he did have family to bring him back to kill her again. Fortunately, at the moment she is in a different body, so she can't use the powers of the sword."

"She wont be able to cut any more souls out like she used to. But she is still the most powerful being on the universe. Generally, a blood relation to the person who's soul you want to save must bond two souls together to save them if the person has been dead for more than a couple minutes. We both know Squall's past the couple minute mark."

"You're the only one that can save him now. To save him, you must first find this sword and then cut out someone else's soul to bound with his. Sorceress's souls are the only ones that can do this. Or rather, not just sorceresses, but sorcerers as well-not to be sexist or anything."

Hawke realizing she was done, opened her mouth and asked a question, "where do I...one: find this sword...and two: a magical soul."

Cat looked at Hawke for a bit and then shrugged. "Beats me. I only know how, not the when, where, why, what, which, whatever." 

"Oh," Hawke didn't like the sound of that. This was going to be much harder than she thought.

Cat must've seen the down fall of her face so she said, "there are two people that might have this knowledge though. They live down in the forests around your old orphanage."

"How did you know-?"

"I know all about you. We've been watching you for a long time."

"Who's...."

Cat just shook her head. "You'll know when the time comes, if you choose the right path."

She stood up and walked over to Hawke and kneeled down in front of her. "Keep the necklace, you can call me when your in trouble. Make sure it's an emergency though, the Fairy doesn't make house calls." She smiled to Hawke as she stood up. "The best of luck, you've got a wamdingzy of a destiny. Good-bye and pork."

"Pork? What?!" Hawke yelled out, but it was too late. The Fairy/Cat/Guardian of Death had already vanished into thin air. "Yes..."

Hawke felt even more confused by this strange events. "At least," she thought, "I know what I'm supposed to do now."

She sighed and started walking the five feet back to the camp. She saw that Frost and Kayra were awake, and that they were both staring at her. "What?" She asked as she took a seat between them on the ground.

"You were just talking to nothing..." Kayra said as she looked at Hawke as if she had just sprouted three heads and a large tail fin.

"And nothing was either talking back, or you're really good at faking conversation..."Frost said to her, looking at her even more weirdly.

"Actually," she said, glaring at Frost, "I was talking to the Guardian of Death, thank you very much. I now know how to save my brother."

This had about the same effect as a dancing bear in a tutu would have had if one popped out of the forest at that moment. Both Frost and Kayra seemed to have their jaws magnetically attached to the ground as both of their mouths opened wide in amazement. 

"Shut you're mouths, you both look stupid," Hawke said before she went into a long explanation, first starting with saving Frost and then to today's happenings. When she finally finished, they both didn't look at her quite so weird.

They all decided that they had better start moving forwards. Frost started to lead that way, seeming to know the way in the woods. He told them that he was leading them towards a town that wasn't all too far in the direction they had already ran. It would take about six days to get there, but it was the closest one. They all agreed to go there, and headed off.

  
  


****

  
  


After the full day of walking, they were all dead tired. All of them were worn out, their nerves on end. They had almost expected to be caught by someone sent by the sorceress by now, but no one had come. In fact, even as they passed some roads, staying hidden in the bushes, they didn't see anyone moving about. No cars, no ships, nothing. They were one with the woods.

Frost sat down on his appointed log, next to Hawke. She glanced over at him, but then went back to roasting the bird they had shot on the way. Food was good.

The silence stretched out between them as they just sat there. Kayra had gone to find some water from a stream that she said she heard nearby, leaving them to sit there...alone.

Hawke wanted to break the silence so she just asked, "how's life?"

"Oh, well, I don't know. My brothers are probably dead, I saw my father dead on the floor, I have no home to return to, and I died. Just peachy," his sarcasm hit her like a knife.

"I was just trying to make conversation. Sheesh, you don't have to spaz on me like that," she went back to watching the bird cook.

Frost was silent for awhile before asking, "Do you think there is anyway that Orion could still be alive? I didn't see him go over the edge, you did."

Hawke closed her eyes. She really didn't know what to say. There may be a small possibility that he could be, but she didn't want to say that. "Eh, yeah, he seemed like a touch guy. I'm sure he's fine."

"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?"

"What?"

"I don't believe you."

"Then why did you ask me in the first place?"

"Because I wanted to see if you were the honest type, or the caring type."

"Hey, you didn't see him go over, I did."

"But Kayra told me that she didn't think he could be alive, the way he fell."

"If you already decided, then why did you ask me?!" Hawke was becoming tired of this.

"I already told you why!"

"Why are you getting so mad at me?! I just wanted to make you feel better!"

"Because you....." 

"Hey, bickering, old couple, would you stop that for a minute? I have a headache." Kayra was walking in from the woods, carrying a sack full of water.

"I didn't start it," Frost mumbled childishly.

Hawke was tired of this and was up to the challenge of biting his head off. "So it was MY fault then?"

"I never said that."

"No, but if it's not yours then it must be mine."

"So you're admitting it was your fault then? Good. Mature thing to do."

"Excuse me!?"

"You know what you did wrong."

"I didn't do anything wrong."

"What did you do right then?"

"I was trying to cheer you up, that's what!"

"You did a pretty b..."

"STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!" Kayra was glaring at the two of them from across the fire. "Stop it or I'll spank both of you and put you in time out."

Hawke and Frost went back to doing absolutely nothing as Kayra took over roasting the bird.

That was about were the conversation stopped for the night. Kayra went to sleep almost immediately after they ate, and Hawke thought Frost did too until he said something from over in his sleeping bag. "Hawke, you still awake?"

She didn't know whether to respond or not. She was pissed off royally, but then remembered all that he had gone through, and cooled off...a bit. "Yes."

There was a pause of silence for awhile as Frost tried to find the right way to ask it. "What's it like to be completely alone?"

Hawke was almost stunned by that question. She didn't know how to answer it. "Well....I wouldn't recommend it."

"Was the only company you had that fox?"

Hawke stiffened as she thought of SageJames. She had no idea where he was at the moment, but she hoped with all her heart that he was ok. She took her eyes away form the stars that she was looking up at and turned around to face Frost. "After I heard Squall had died, yes."

She was surprised to see that he was facing her, looking right at her as well. "Do you seriously think Orion is ok?"

Hawke looked down at the ground for a bit and then back up at Frost. "I don't know why, but now that I think about it, yes. I do."

Frost seemed to smile a bit, just in the corners of his mouth, before looking back up at the stars. "You're pretty fun to argue with."

Hawke almost laughed at that. "I think I'll take that as a compliment."

Frost let out a great big sigh. "It was a compliment. Want to argue over whether it was or not?"

Hawke looked down at him from sitting up. "No, wouldn't wanna wake Kayra."

Frost smiled, fully this time and then looked back up at her. "I'm going to get her for this, Hawke. That witch is going down."

Hawke just nodded. She understood that, but what she didn't understand was, "Frost, if you're half sorcerer...why don't you ever use your magic?"

Frost was silent for a bit before looking back up at the stars in the night sky. "After my mom died, I felt that magic was what caused her to be hated. I hated magic with all my heart for taking her away from me and because the lady that killed her was a very powerful sorceress. I suddenly came to believe that ever sorceress in the world was cruel and evil but my mom. My brothers and I decided that it was best just to stop with the magic. It only got us into trouble. I swore that I would never use it again. It just causes destruction."

Hawke just nodded. "So you'll never use your talent?"

"Curse is more like it."

And that's about where the conversation ended. Hawke just stared up at the night sky, thinking that Frost had fallen asleep. But in reality, he was sitting there thinking the same thing. They both sat there in completely silence, both deep in thought. Both of them slowly drifted off to sleep.

  
  


*~*

  
  


"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwke...." A voice was calling to her from somewhere. She was all alone in a field of flowers. The wild flowers floated around her, their petals circling her. She was a little girl again. 

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwke...." The voice called again. It was soft and loving. Hawke felt compelled towards it. She started to run, the flower petals flowing behind her as she ran through the field.

The soft calling was replaced by humming. A warming tone that Hawke seemed to know as well. The voice soon started singing, softly and lightly. The sound filled the field beautifully and Hawke began to run faster. She had to get to the lady that was singing. She reached the top of the hill and looked down. There she was. 

The singing continued as she tried to run faster, but her little child legs couldn't move that fast and she fell lightly to the ground. She peaked up out of the flower tops towards the figure in the distance. She couldn't see anything but the figures back. The figure seemed to know that she fell and stopped singing. "Oh Hawke," The figure said as she started to turn around. The child Hawke stood up to great the person with open arms but then....

  
  


*~*

  
  


Hawke's eyes snapped open, ending the comforting dream. She looked around and found that everyone was asleep still. She wondered what had woken her up.

She almost wished that she hadn't woken up because she had wanted to see who the person was. It haunted her that she never got to see the face of this woman. She suddenly realized that she was wet from sweating. She kicked the blankets off and stood up, letting the night breeze cool her off. That was when she heard something, a definite snap from in the woods. 

Something was out there.

She grabbed her dagger form in her backpack and slowly made her way over to the edge of the clearing. She listened for the sound again. There it was, closer this time. She walked over to Frost and shook him awake, then to Kayra and woke her too. She wasn't going to face this thing alone. They all stood by her, asking her with there eyes what was wrong. She just pointed into the woods silently and waited for the sounds again. There it was again. The trio looked at each other and then back out to the woods. The sounds slowly got closer and Frost yelled out, "show yourself!"

The sound was suddenly very close, dead in front of them. They saw the tree branches waver and suddenly a figure burst out of the leaves, standing on a tree branch ten feet about them. 

She was holding a cross bow in her left hand and her right hand rested on her hip, giving her a defiant look to them all. Her hair was light purple-lavender-, looking eerily gorgeous in the moonlight. It flowed down to her hips in long wavy strands. Her eyes, a darker shade of purple, dug into the group as if it was deciding what to do. She wore sandals, or rather bottoms of shoes that were laced onto her legs up to her mid calf. Her top was a cream, wavy material that came to about her mid stomach and had purple beads continuing on for an inch after that. She wore a skirt that was the same color as her top, seemed to be loosely wrapped around her with a slit up part of both sides so she could have full range and easy motion. She raised her bow and arrow up and squared it on the man in the group, "Are you Frost?"


	6. Elfwood

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One! Oh yes, and I found a website with the name of "Elfwood". I 'spose I give them credit for the name-dun sue me!

Destiny's Fork

Chapter Six

"Elfwood"

By Magic

The purple lady stood there, holding her arrow trained on Frost as the rest of the group fumbled for words. Frost wasn't quite sure what to do. She might kill him if he said he was Frost, but then she might kill him anyway. He glanced over to Hawke, then to Kayra, then back up at the lady in the trees. He slowly nodded.

The girl seemed to think for a second, before lowering her bow and arrow and hopping down lightly from the tree. She walked up to the group and looked them all over. "Well, seems right," she said before turning to Frost again. "I have something of yours."

"Excuse me?" Frost said, utterly perplexed.

She paid no attention to his question and then turned to Hawke, "Something of yours as well."

Hawke just blinked. She wasn't sure what else she had that she didn't have with her.

The girl looked to Kayra, narrowed her eyes first, then spoke. "Come." She then took off into the forest, leaving them to sit and think about what they should do.

They glanced at one another before taking off at a full run after the mystery girl, each wondering what the hell was going on. Frost was in the lead, Hawke in the middle with Kayra bringing up the rear. He could just barely see the girl's purple hair as the thin girl darted with the swiftness of a deer through the forest vegetation. 

"Hey!" He opened his mouth to ask her to slow down and got a mouthful of leaves.

After about ten minutes of running, they came to a clearing. A large tree, bigger than any living thing any of them had ever seen, probably bigger than the Gardens, was in the center of the circular field. Thousands of billions of lights glittered from the tree, along with millions of fire flies. It seemed like the sky had fallen and the stars danced in this large field.

The purple haired girl had stopped and was waiting for them as they entered the clearing. She glanced to make sure the group had caught up with her and walked purposefully towards the tree. The group, huffing and puffing from the run, trudged after her.

As they came upon the tree, Hawke could see that it wasn't anything like a tree at all. Sure, it was a very large tree, but there were ladders and walkways connecting houses made completely out of wood and leaves. It was a city.

Her eyes widened as they approached. There were thousands of people walking around the high branches, oblivious to the height and possible fall. Her stomach tightened as she approached the ladder with the rest of them. She was going to have to go back up high.

Frost, also amazed by the scene, turned towards Hawke just to see her go pale. "What? Don't like leavin' the ground?"

She twisted her head to give him a glare. "No, people aren't supposed to go into the skies."

His eyes glittered with laughter. "Is that so," he whispered as he turned back to the ladder and started trudging up it. Kayra followed and soon Hawke was left standing next to the purple haired girl.

Hawke turned to her as the girl started to speak. "If it helps you at all, I hate heights as well."

"And you live up there?!"

The girl nodded and smiled at Hawke's amazement. "I'm crazy I guess." She reached her hand out for Hawke to shake it. "I'm Katriina Rudevic. Call me 'Triina"

"Hawke Leonhart."

Katriina raised an eyebrow but then went back to the ladder. "You're going to have to go up first."

Hawke swallowed but nodded. "Aight."

She slowly grabbed onto the ladder, closed her eyes, and started to climb, Katriina right behind her. The wind started to pick up as they went higher and higher, never stopping on any floor, but continuing up the long, tiresome ladder until they got to just about the top floor. 

"Get off here."

Frost and Kayra got off and waited for Hawke to reach the top. She was just about a floor behind them all with Katriina leading up the rear. Frost looked down and saw that her eyes were closed. He forced back a chuckle as he watched her slowly climb the ladder. She was up at the top soon, but her eyes were still closed. She didn't know that there wasn't anything else to climb and reached out her arm to grab an imaginary rung, meeting nothing but air to support her. Her eyes snapped open as she tipped backwards, almost falling off the ladder if it wasn't for someone hand that quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her back up and over the edge to the floor.

She looked up and saw Frost lifting her up. Suddenly the night of her village's death came to her mind and she got hot. Imaginary flames licked at her sides and she had to blink away the vision before she could let herself be pulled up to the top.

"You ok?"

"Fine," Hawke grumbled. She wasn't in a very good mood. Heights were one thing, but heights and flashbacks put together were something quite different.

At her cactus spiked tone, Frost opened his mouth to make a witty comment, but was elbowed in the stomach by Kayra. "I don't need you to fighting right now. I'm so tired I could die so shut up."

Katriina reached the top and looked at the three before motioning them to walk into one of the leaf and branch houses to the side. They all followed, wondering what the heck they were doing there. Katriina pushed aside the beads that hung in the doorway and led them all into the house, lit only by a small glass vase filled with fire flies. Frost looked around until his eyes came to rest on a figure sitting up in a hammock, gazing out of the window.

"Orion!" Frost exclaimed and the figure turned its head around to look at the crowd.

Orion gazed at the crowd, a large smile forming on his face, "Hey everyone. How's life been?"

Hawke beamed as she returned Orion's smile; she was very happy he was okay, Frost would maybe be a little lest ornery. Everyone in the room paused for a moment of silence before a yip was heard outside the door. A small, black and white monkey came running through the door, crawled up Katriina's leg and rested in her arms as yet another bundle of fur ran into the door. 

"SageJames!!" Hawke exclaimed as she ran over to lift the fox up into her arms, squeezing him tight. The fox did his best to look indigent about all of this, but seemed quite happy to be in his position. 

Kayra laughed and knelt next to Hawke, petting SageJames and smiling continuously. "We're all back together."

Hawke stood, Kayra following her lead and confronted Katriina. "Thank you."

Katriina just shrugged, "No problem, his highness here gave me more trouble than your fox. What was his name? SageJames?"

Hawke nodded and let SageJames out of her arms, onto the floor to inspect everyone.

"Figures that he would be a problem," Frost mocked, smirking at his brother.

"Hey, I didn't do anyth--..."

Katriina walked over to Orion and shook her head. "You wouldn't even let me touch you to fix you up until you were too weak to even move. Then, you just had to get a fever which required me to hall buckets of cold water from the stream all the way up here to bring it down. After which you wake up and have a huge appetite, causing me to have to cook for you!" She walked even closer, getting in his face. "Katriina Rudevic does not cook!" Her monkey hissed down at the dark haired prince from her shoulder.

Orion smiled sweetly at her, "but the food was great, my savior." He reached up a tweaked the nose of the monkey, causing it to have a hissy fit. He rested on top of Katriina's head and glared down at him, wishing this intruder out of his house.

Katriina flung her arms into the air, exasperated. "How the fuck do you people live with him?!"

Frost glanced at his brother's reddening face and burst out laughing. Kayra laughed as well, but Hawke just pointed to Frost and said, clearly, "he's much worse. Must run in the family or something."

Katriina laughed and sat down on one of the chairs she had, motioning the others to do the same. Frost glared at Hawke as she sat down, two seats away from him. Kayra leaned up against the wall, looking out the window.

Katriina was the first one to speak. "I saved his life, you all owe me an explanation."

"Explanation?" Kayra asked.

"You're both princes from the palace around here. But the royal family is now wanted for treason to the new ruler."

Frost and Orion straightened up. "Excuse me...repeat that...explain more," Frost ordered.

Katriina didn't like the tone of his voice, but she continued. "The sorceress, Ultimecia, once again is taking control of everything. People are giving into her because they hear there is no way to defeat her. The populations are in panic. They say there is only one person that can save them from the sorceress, the sister to Squall Leonhart. But there is rumor that she is already dead, in a great fire." Katriina's eyes darted over to Hawke as she continued. "The sorceress has also ordered that traitors to her cause be killed, calling for the extermination of all the SeeDs and the princes of Trabia, thought she wants the princes alive."

Everyone was silent for a bit. Frost was the first one to speak as he growled out, "So you're going to turn us all in, aren't you?"

Katriina smirked. "That's what you would think. My people owe allegiance to no one, especially a sorceress. I've been assigned to help you out."

Frost raised an eyebrow and looked to the purple haired girl in front of him. "Who are you really?"

A smile played on her lips. "Smart man. I'm truly the princess of these people, Katriina Rudevic of Elfwood."

"So you're an elf?" Kayra asked from the corner.

Katriina burst out laughing, "Do my ears go pointy? No, Elfwood is just the name of this place for it was built on an old elf village after they moved on."

Kayra and Katriina seemed to go into a staring contest, neither one moving their eyes from the other. "Do they know?" Katriina finally asked out loud.

"No, but I guess now is as good a time as any. You're going to have to tell them too, if we are all going to get along," Kayra said, her face grim.

Katriina sighed, "I suppose your right." She pointed first to herself and then to Kayra over in the corner. "We're both mind readers."

Hawke blinked, "what?" She looked to Kayra. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Kayra shrugged. "It's better that not very many people now about it. Mind readers are both feared and respected, but people's fear takes hold sometimes and people with our talent are killed off for no reason."

"So," Orion smiled as he surveyed the crowd, "we all have something to hide, don't we?"

Everyone nodded, but soon all eyes lay on Hawke.

"What?!" She exclaimed, "Do I have something on my nose?"

First Orion's head was lowered to her, just a bit. But soon after came Katriina's, then Kayra's, and after a slight pause, Frost lowered his as well and commented, "At your service, milady."

Hawke was very not used to being bowed to and turned a great shade of red. "Hey, that's really not necessary now, you truly don't have to do that. I'm just a normal teenage girl who just happens to be Squall's sister."

Katriina looked up at Hawke through her bangs. "You're the one that shall save us all. You're much more than you think."

Hawke was getting tired of this. "Stop that now, no more bowing, please."

They all lifted their heads and Frost gave her the cockiest smirk she had ever seen, she returned it with a glare.

"What now?" Orion asked from his bed by the window.

"We rest, get packed and set a time to go," Frost declared.

"And we're going...?" Kayra asked.

"Closest town here, we need to get some transportation," Frost answered.

"But the closest town is----..."Orion started to say something but Frost shot him a glare across the room and he shut up.

The girls looked at the two as if they were crazy and then started planning on what to pack. Katriina soon pointed to several rooms around the small house that they could sleep in, gave them water and some fruit for super, and told them all to go back to sleep.

"My village would be glad to help with the food and supplies, but I'm afraid that we don't have any weapons or anything useful," Katriina called to them in their new rooms when she started changing Orion's bandages as the prince grumbled.

"I'm fine, you really don't have to do this," Orion mumbled to Katriina.

"Shut up or I'll go into your mind and poke around a bit," she hissed out at him, not taking her eyes of the task at hand.

He shut up and let her change his bandages. The monkey, on the other hand, didn't shut up. He was hanging from the ceiling and glaring down at the prince, making squeaking noises. Orion looked up at the monkey. "Oh, you're just jealous because she likes me more than you."

The monkey dive bombed for his head. 

"Ack!" Orion fumbled to get a good grip on the monkey, but to no avail. 

"Yun Xing! You can play with him after he's healed," Katriina scolded the monkey.

Yun Xing hid his head and curled up his tail as he leapt from the prince's head, over to the windowsill, looking hurt. He continued to glare at Orion as if planing what to do once the prince got well.

Orion brushed monkey hair off his head and looked up to Katriina, "you call that playing?! I call that attack of the kamikaze monkey!"

She smirked and pulled lay a wash cloth full of soap on Orion's stomach were the cuts were the deepest. The prince grimaced as the soap stung. "Yun Xing is an angel, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, angel, sure. What kind of name is Yun Xing anyway?"

"It means Lucky Star. Now shut up and let me clean this."

The monkey seemed to be laughing from over on his perch. Orion looked over to the monkey and glared with all his might, and just got a nasty glare right back. The dark haired youth just looked up to the straw ceiling and let himself daze off for a bit, until Katriina's face appeared over him. "How are you feeling?"

Orion blinked out of his day dream and sat up a bit. "Fine, I guess." He paused for a moment before adding, "Thank you." But as he turned back, he saw that she was already out of the room, taking the monkey with her. He felt slightly sheepish as he lay down to sleep, joining all the others in slumber.

  


******

Three days later, after Orion was well enough to make the trip, the five assembled at the bottom of the large tree village. Katriina handed them each a small, white flower. "It's from my father, a gift my people give before we start on a long hard journey." She smirked and stuck Orion's in his hair. "For luck."

Orion, instead of taking the flower our, batted his eyelashes and asked in a girly voice, "is it me?"

Frost grabbed the flower out of Orion's hair and handed it to his brother. "No, trust me. It clashes with all your blackness."

"Party pooper."

"Ten year old."

"And proud to act it!" Orion flashed his brother a cheesy smile and started out on the path. It was just dawn right now and he wanted to get as far as they could while it was still light out. 

The others followed, Hawke in the middle, unaware that everyone was looking out for her. She didn't like that way they had been acting lately and was glad to get underway. They seemed to think that she was someone really important; she could argue against that point.

  


******

They romped through the forest for the whole day, never stopping even to eat. They finally settled down for the night by a stream in the middle of nowhere. Frost and Orion seemed to know where they were going, but Hawke and the others had no idea at all.

Orion sat down on a log that was laying near the stream, next to the fire they had built for light. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse, do you think pizza hut delivers out here?"

"We could try," Frost said sarcastically as he held a banana up to his ears, mimicking a phone. "I'd like to order three pizza's to somewhere in the middle of nowhere. My name? Well, we're two princes running away from your new ruler and the only girl that can save the world. Ten dollars?!" He slammed the banana onto the rock he was sitting on. "Rip off prices."

Hawke grinned as she sat down to eat her fruit. Katriina and Kayra had gone off hunting, leaving her alone with the two, crazy brothers. It wasn't so bad, as long as she and Frost didn't talk directly.

"So, my dear Hawke," Orion said holding a pear up to his mouth as if it were a microphone, "what does it feel like to be the only one that can save us all?" He stuck that pear under her mouth, for her to talk into.

"Well...actually," she pretended to really think hard about it, "I'm much rather that SageJames here, was the almighty one. I could do without the honor."

Orion laughed, but Frost hadn't seen her sarcastic face when saying it, turned around and went off on her,"You should be honored. It's not everyday a nobody gets this kind of destiny."

Hawke's eyes darkened. "Excuse me? A... "nobody"?"

Frost's eyes hardened as well, "You hear what I said."

She took a step closer to him. "Well this nobody has saved your life twice already. You still owe me one."

Orion had taken a great interest in their arguments and leaned forward. "She took your arm off with that one, Frost."

"But who's butt was I saving each time I was in danger?"

"No one asked you to save the 'nobody'."

Orion winced at Hawke's evil and mocking tone. "There goes two more limbs."

Frost glared at his brother, then went back to Hawke. He opened his mouth to speak, but Hawke had already lined up a comment. She was pissed and ready to deal him a hard deck of cards.

"Why did you take time out of your busy, princely schedule when you could be doing something useful like learning how to dance! Or would you call bruising others feet a new form of expressive dance?!"

"There goes your last limb, brother."

Frost was so mad he couldn't even think. "Yeah, that's right. I am a prince, so you better watch your tone, nobody!"

Hawke got really close to his face before hissing out, ice cold the words, "Yes, well, I'm the savior of this planet so right now my 'nobody' finger nail is worth more than your prince ass at the moment, your highness." She took off across the stream to cool off and possibly hit something multiple times.

Orion fell over on the log, "stabbed you right in the heart and ripped it out with her bare hands. You're dead, bro."

Frost turned and glared at his brother. "Oh, shut up." 

Katriina and Kayra returned at the exact moment when Hawke took off in the opposite direction. Katriina watched Hawke's back retreat farther away into the forest and looked to Orion. "What did you do to her?"

"Hey, don't look at me! It was him!"

The two girl's looked over to Frost and gave him a death glare, before Kayra went over to the fire to roast the rabbit Katriina had shot.

Orion looked over to Katriina and smiled, "Your highness is good with her weapon I see."

The purple hair girl whirled on Orion. "I'm really not in the mood." The monkey hissed at him from on top of her shoulder.

"You know, you really need to choose your friends more carefully," Orion commented, glaring at the monkey.

"Quiet now," Katriina said clearly as she unsheathed a small knife from her side, "Or I'll cut your head off."

Orion smiled and commented lightly, "Oh, that's fine."

Frost added, "Yes, he doesn't use it at all, wouldn't make a difference."

Katriina slowly walked up to Orion, smiling evilly. "I didn't mean that head." She rammed the knife into the log, right between Orion's legs and slowly walked away, following Hawke's trail into the woods.

Frost looked over at his brother, who was slightly white in the face. "You would've lost a very important limb," he commented with a smirk.

  


******

Hawke stopped just outside of the clearing they had settled by. She wasn't planning on going back anytime soon, maybe she'd sleep there. She busied herself with throwing rocks at the tree in front of her.

Soon though, she heard a twig snap behind her and she whirled around to face whoever was there. It was Katriina.

"Oh, hi," Hawke said blankly and went back to throwing rocks at the tree.

"Whatever he said, he didn't mean it."

"Oh, sure, that's why he acted all high and mighty, again, as usual." Thunk, another dead on hit.

Katriina just sighed. "You know, he feels bad now."

Thunk.

"You could go talk to him about it."

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

"He could teach you something very useful."

Thunk.

"Like how to use magic."

Splash. Hawke missed the tree. Her concentration was gone. She again turned to face her purple haired friend.

"He told me he doesn't use his magic anymore."

"He may not use it, but he can teach others how to find magic within themselves," Katriina did a back flip up into the nearest tree. "You're lucky, I can sense some magic in you. There are some of us that don't have any at all. Like me and Kayra, for example. You should learn to use it, I'm sure it'd help you save everything in the future."

Hawke just starred off at nothing.

"Think about it."

The violet youth slipped away into the foliage and shadows, leaving Hawke to think. And think she did.

  


******

Frost was busy feeling bad about what he had said, when Katriina returned and walked over to the fire. She glanced at Frost before helping Kayra with dinner. Frost looked over to the place where Hawke had disappeared and was surprised to see Hawke returning. He stood up and prepared to hold his ground.

Hawke surprised him yet again by walking up to him, grabbing his arm and pulling him back to where she had stopped there.

"Listen, Hawke, I'm sorry," he began to apologize.

"You said some things that I can't forgive unless you give something back."

He raised an eyebrow at her, but waited for her verdict.

"Teach me magic, Katriina told me you could."

This was not something that he had thought she would say; on the contrary, he was almost too shocked to even talk. He even had to blink a couple of times before he could think clearly. This girl was certainly someone that he couldn't predict. "You have the gift?"

Hawke just shrugged, "I guess so. Katriina told me that I did."

"Er, okay," Frost walked over to the stream and pointed to a rock close to there. "Sit. Here."

Hawke followed orders and sat down on the cold, smooth rock. Frost stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Close your eyes."

She rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see it. She felt like someone was teaching her how to sleep.

"Concentrate on yourself."

Hawke let out a sniffle of a laugh.

"Hey, come on. You want to find your magic or not?"

"Yeah, whatever. Concentrating on me." She made her next laugh into a cough and closed her eyes again.

"I'm going to direct you to it. You're going to have to let your thoughts become mine."

"Men think?"

"Hey now..." his grip on her shoulders tightened. Suddenly Hawke felt a flash of new energy. She felt as if she could reach out and touch it. "This is my magic," Frost said right into her head.

She looked at it, with her mind, not her eyes. "It's silver...what's with you and silver?"

"It's mostly just ice magic. Like I told you before, my brothers and I are elemental, now, try to find yours."

Hawke didn't exactly know what to think about this one until she could sense something else along next to her. She dug further into herself, down to her very soul, or so she thought. There it was, right in front of her, a large glowing mass of mingling black and white magic. The magic took shape, the shape of her. She walked forward in her mind towards the small person within her. Her own hand reached out and grabbed that of the person made of magic. 

Frost's hands were thrown off her shoulders as he was propelled five feet away from Hawke. Her eyes snapped open and a feeling of calmness swept over her before she suddenly realized that Frost was laying in the middle of the stream.

"Sheesh...." Frost said as he put out little bits of fire that had started on the tips of his hair.

Hawke just looked at him dumbly for a second before bursting out laughing. Frost straightened up and attempted to look handsome with water dripping down his face and his hair smoldering from Hawke's magic charge, but this just caused Hawke to laugh even harder.

"You could've warned me about this..."

"Like I," Laughter, "could've," more laughing, "known!"

Frost cupped his hands together and started flinging water at Hawke. He also got her, but she jumped off the rock just in time.

"Thank you for the lovely lesson on magic," Hawke said with a slightly mocking bow to Frost before she ran off to eat some of that rabbit; she was starving.

Cold stream water dripped down his face as Frost muttered, "Welcome." He trudged slowly towards the campsite, grumbling. He was never going to hear the end of this one.

******

Five more days of walking through the forest and the group was finally nearing the city. The last lights of day sparkled through the misty air as they could just barely see the gates to the city they had been walking towards. The last mile of the journey had been through incredibly muddy terrain, leaving the group looking less well for wear.

Kayra, who had been walking in the middle, stopped for a bit next to a rock. Orion and Frost looked to each other and nodded, stopping the group right there, out of site of the guards at the gate. "Why," Kayra asked between breaths of air, "haven't I ever heard of this city before?"

"Well," Orion said as he rummaged for something in his backpack, "that would be because it's not publically known at all. Kind of a place that misfits go to hang out." He looked up a Frost as if telling him to explain more.

"It's mostly just a man's town," Frost commented as he too, rummaged through his bag for something.

"A man's town?" Hawke asked, raising an eyebrow and laying her hands on her hips.

"And why would it just be...a man's town?" Katriina asked, standing next to Hawke in the same fashion.

"Er," Orion looked to Frost, and Frost to Orion, before Frost ended their questions. "Women have no rights what so ever. They're all slaves here, and women can't enter without becoming slaves as well."

The girls' eyes narrowed at the two brothers in front of them.

"I say we kill them now," Hawke muttered, making her hands into fists.

"Sounds like a plan," Katriina said as she too, stood her ground.

"Wait! Wait!" Orion yelled, holding his hands over his head. "We've come prepared for this."

The girls waited in silence to hear this almighty plan.

Frost tossed some clothes to Hawke as Orion tossed some to Katriina, then Kayra. Frost smirked as he approached Hawke. "You're all going to become guys, just like us."

"But I enjoy having brain cells," Hawke muttered under her breath, but she guessed this was the only way to go. The girls went off into the forest for a bit to change, leaving the guys to talk.

"You've got the two mind readers. With me and Hawke, it's going to be personal," Frost said, grinning slightly evilly. Orion just nodded and attempted not to laugh at his brother.

Katriina arrived first, now in just a pair of Orion's riding pants, a pair of old, dusty riding boots and a loose black shirt. "I feel like your twin..."

Orion just nodded to her, "nice." Kayra came out next, wearing the exact same thing as Katriina. Then Hawke followed, wearing the same thing as them all except her shirt was a really loose, white tunic, and of course, she wouldn't remove her lace up boots for the world.

Orion and Frost walked around and inspected the girls. Frost grabbed Hawke's hair and ripped out the hair tie, causing her long, brown hair to fall across her shoulders. "Men don't wear their hair like that," he told her as he handed her the tie back. But she looked nice with her hair down, and he had to snuff the idea to tell her so out.

"Thanks..."Hawke said sarcastically as she put her hair into a low pony tail, the kind that just holds your hair together while it just lies on your back. Her layers, though, refused to stay in, and as normal fell out, framing her face. She crammed them behind her ears and waited for whatever the guys where planning.

The two princes looked from their appointed girls, to each other, with a smirk, and then back. They leaned down and picked up a hunk of mud from the ground, Orion with two, and chucked them quickly at the girls, catching them all off guard and dousing their clothes with chunky mud. Kayra just stood there in almost awe that they had just down that, but Katriina and Hawke grabbed handfuls of mud and threw them right back at the princes, Katriina's hitting Orion right on the shoulder and Hawke's smacking Frost directly on the side of a check.

The fight went on until there was no way to tell one muddy blob from the next, except for maybe hair color. Frost and Orion looked at the girls now and nodded. "There's just one more thing that's wrong. You've got extra body parts for being a guy," Orion told the group. Frost went over to his bag and came back with a roll of sports tape in his hand.

"NO WAY!" All the girls exclaimed as Frost tossed them the rolls.

******


	7. Dark Chocolate

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  
  


Chapter Seven

"Dark Chocolate"

By Magic

  
  


Hawke grumbled as she walked down the streets. I can't believe they actually talked me into doing this. I'm going to have welts! If this hurts when I rip it off....I'm going to kill them both. She glanced up to see Frost beaming brightly with a cheesy grin. She turned to her left and saw that Orion had the same look on his face as well. They're both dead.

Katriina nudged Hawke's shoulder and nodded towards the men on the sides of the street. They were all watching as the group of five slowly walked down the paved road. Katriina moved her head so she could speak directly into Hawke's ear, "I don't think we girls are the problem...." she glanced up at the guys, "They walk like princes."

The brunette nodded and complied with her own plan. Lifting her knee up above her hips, she rammed her foot right into Frost's. "You're walking like a prince. Lower your head."

Frost's ice eyes glowed with anger, but he lowered his head a bit. Over to their left, Orion had gotten somewhat of the same treatment from the two girls next to him. "What's with hurtin' the Prin-" Orion was cut off as Katriina's foot slammed into his shin. "Oh, uh....stop playing so ruff you gir--"BAM," guys."

Hawke slowly shook her head and forced herself not to laugh. And they were worried about us being caught as females. Ha. She continued on her way down the street, taking in her surroundings. The town was defiantly geared towards a male population; that could easily be seen by the fact that there were no women walking around on the streets and most of the buildings were either weapon shops or some sort of a dirty, run down looking bar. I didn't think places like this still existed...

She came to a quick stop as she ran head long into a door. Frost had entered before her and she had suspected that he would at least keep the door open for a little longer. She shook her head to clear the daze out of it and realized she was standing alone out in the street. That's it...the prince is goin' down! Hawke entered the building in a huff.

The others stood at the counter of the small store in a sort of semi-circle fashion. Hawke joined them as well, but not before she rammed her leg into Frost's ankle. "Bastard!" She grumbled to him as she stepped to the right of him.

Frost, who had been talking to the elderly man behind the desk, stopped short, bit his lip, but then continued speaking,"-uh, yeah. We're going to need supplies for traveling."

"Supplies we've got sonny," the kindly old man gave them all a warm smile. "May I ask to where you will be traveling?"

"Actually, we'd like to know that as well...have any maps?" Frost added with as little care as he could.

The old man nodded again and grabbed a rolled up map from behind him. "Here's the best one in the place. In the house and on me for the beautiful ladies."

All the girls' backs stiffened but the old man just chuckled. 

"Don't worry. I wont be goin' and tellin' no one about you three. As far as I'm concerned you earned your right to get in here by just jumping in a pile of mud!" He let out a raspy cough and went around the store, pointing out odds and ends to them. "Just pick what you want and bring it up to the till."

The boys nodded and sent the girls to pick out their supplies.

"We'd also like to buy some mood of transportation," Orion told the man as the black prince bit into a juicy apple.

"Well, we've got some chocobos out back if you'd like to buy some of them, but we only have three and you can't take them out until tomorrow. It's their feeding time now and if you attempt to get 'em away from that stack of greens, you're going to get yerself killed, my lad," the old man began ringing up what the girls were bringing back to the counter.

"We'll take them all," Frost told the man after he walked over to the window to look out at the three chocobos grazing in the pen behind the store.

The man nodded and added the price of the three to the bill which seemed to be getting larger and larger by the second. Hawke and Katriina came up to the counter carrying hand fulls of something wrapped in silver foil.

"What is all of this?!" Orion asked in shock. "You girls couldn't eat all of this in a year!"

Hawke and Katriina glanced at each other and grinned. "You wanna bet!" The two yelled in sync.

"Well...I uh...what...what the hell is all that stuff?"

"Chocolate!!" The two girls' faces brimmed with happiness as they gazed into their armfuls.

"We can't buy all of that!" Orion blurted out.

"He's lying you know," Katriina told Hawke as she turned to face the other chocolate addict. "I had Yung Xing go through his small purse over there and he has enough to buy a city made of chocolate if he wants to."

Orion's face fell and he became quite flabbergasted. "You had that little--stupid----ball of fur go through my money bag?! Fugthd der wanngsjk wulipy--" Orion's voice refused to make audible noises as his anger rose. It reached it's peak as Yung Xing hopped quickly out of the pack he was wearing carrying a couple of gold coins. The monkey sat on his head and pulled at his ebony hair for a bit before jumping to Katriina's shoulder and chittering away in a laughing manner at the prince.

The girls were just about the burst into laughter when a scream erupted from by the window.

"Get it away!" A very girly Frost's voice screamed as the prince leaped over the counter and hid behind the old man who was chuckling without control.

The others blinked.

A small chirp came from over in the corner that Frost had been standing. Little yellow wings and ball of fluff with ice blue eyes could be seen looking at the group as a baby chocobo tottered over the group. It hopped up onto the counter top and gazed at Frost lovingly.

"Kweeeee!" 

"It seems like the little one has found it's new master." The old man stopped his chuckling for a bit, but a wide smile still spread across his face. "I took him in a week ago when I found him outside the city without his mother. He never took a great liking to me though...but it looks like he enjoys you, young man."

Frost came out of his hiding place and glared the young chocobo right in the eye. "I am not your mother!"

"KweeeEE!" The baby's squeal got louder as he leaned forward and bit Frost's nose.

Hawke's eyebrows rose and she walked forward to the little baby. "I like him!"

A jealous growl erupted from her backpack as SageJames stuck his fox head out of her sac and licked her on the face. 

"Yes, yes. Of course I like you better James."

Katriina came up next to Hawke and stroked the young bird. "You think he could bite Orion too?" Orion was still speaking nonsense as he stood in the middle of the store, hands laden with the chocolate the girls had picked out.

The silver prince was still rubbing his nose as the old man handed Frost some greens. "That baby wont leave you for the rest of your life, unless you treat him unkindly. You're stuck with him from here on in. They grow up quite fast so by the end of this year you should be able to ride him, depending on whether or not you train him like that." The store owner started packing up the food. "You want that chocolate?" He inquired as he glanced at Orion.

"YES!" The two girls exclaimed and they grabbed the morsels and put them on the counter top with vigor. Yung Xing did a little triumphant dance on Katriina's shoulder.

  
  


*******

  
  


"I can't believe we just bought six hundred gil worth of chocolate..." Orion sighed as he carried the many bags into their hotel room.

"Kwee!" Responded the small ball of fluff as it pounced on Frost who was attempting to take a nap on the bed. 

"Oof!" Frost grumbled as he picked up the small bird. "That wasn't very nice!" He set the bird down on his brother's head and lay back down once more.

"Kwe?" The bird said as it's face appeared in front of Orion's as it peered down at him from up top.

"There is a bird....on my head...."

"No shit Sherlock!" Katriina exclaimed as she set the last of the bags down on the floor. Hawke and the purple haired girl pounced on the chocolate which filled six of the eight bags they had filled with supplies. "Ooo! Yummy stuff!" She exclaimed as she unwrapped a small piece and popped it into her head. 

"Mmmm!" Hawke was perfectly satisfied with her selection as well. "Slightly crunchy with a great milk chocolate flavor!"

As the two girls were busy rolling around on the floor, Orion was busy attempting to pack away their supplies. "You know, you girls had better stop screaming like...girls...or you're going to get caught."

"Ughmmm!" Katriina had popped another piece into her mouth as she flopped down onto one of the beds.

"We can't shut up! It's chocolaaaaaaaaaate!" Hawke screamed as she grabbed another piece.

Kayra, who had been silent for most of the day, just looked at the two and laughed, but she too also had to grab a piece and munch down on the great flavor.

"It's too bad they didn't have any turtles..." Hawke commented as she stuffed a piece of chocolate into the pair of Frost's pants she was wearing.

Katriina and Yung Xing sat up straight on the bed and gazed down at the brunette. "Turtles..."They both cooed; Yung Xing's voice sounding as human as he could make it.

Orion took this distraction to attempt to grab a couple of pieces from their bags. The girls caught the movement only too late as the prince popped one into his mouth and chucked one at his brother. "Here! Catch Frost!"

The other prince sat up in his bed and made ready to catch the chunk, when a flying ball of fur hurled through the air. The small fox caught the chocolate in his mouth and landed with a thunk in Frost's arms. It's eyes turned to the prince and gazed at him.

Frost felt a small shiver running through his body as his eyes met the fox's. He promptly dropped the fox on the floor and lay back down for a second time. "Stupid animal."

"KWEEE!" The chocobo dive-bombed on the prince's head. He was jealous of SageJames and wanted to play.

"AH!" Frost screamed as he rolled out of the bed and onto the hard floor.

"Oh isn't that just sooo sweet?" Hawke cooed as SageJames leapt into her arms again.

Katriina looked up from the bag of chocolate she was digging in and commented, "He needs a name, don't you think?"

"I already named him," Frost declared as he sat up and got out of bed. He had given up on sleeping.

The girls looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. 

"His name is Ice," Frost told them all as he put his shoes on.

The two girls exchanged glances with raised eyebrows.

"Leave it to a prince to name something after himself." Hawke grumbled, but she quickly put away her bad mood by stuffing another piece into her mouth. "Choc-o-le-to!"

Frost's figure could be seen in the light of the doorway as he made ready to leave. "I'm going now."

"What?!" Orion cried, his mouth filled with chocolate. He was sucker for the sweet taste as well. "You can't just leave! What if someone actually does see you? You yourself said that we shouldn't go outside too much because--"

The silver haired prince rammed another piece of chocolate in his brother's mouth. "I'm going now," he said cooly and he promptly left the room.

"That boy needs a babysitter," Katriina commented from over on her bed. "Hawke, go follow him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Why me?!" Hawek asked, flabbergasted.

"Because he already hates you with a vengence," Katriina winked at her.

Hawke blinked. "He's going to kill me. He obviously wanted to be alone to think."

"Men don't think, dear," Katriina pointed out. "Do what you will."

Five seconds later. "Whatever. I'll do it as long as you save half of those chocolates for me."

"Deal."

Hawke hefted herself off the floor and swiftly followed the hallway out into the main lounge where she caught up with Frost. "Greetings."

"What are you doing here?" Frost inquired as she ran up to him. "You're going to get caught if you keep skipping like that."

Hawke stopped and started walking next to him. He glanced at her out of the side of his eye, then swiftly looked back forward.

"Though there is something we could to if you don't want to worry about getting caught."

"Do I even want to know?" Hawke spat, remembering the duct tape that was still wrapped around her chest.

"Here." He moved her to sit in a chair. "Just sit right there."

Hawke looked up at him perplexed as he ran into the hotel's store to the side. She had thought he was going to kill her for following him, but instead he was actually being generally nicer than he ever had to her. "Men are nut cases," Hawke told herself with a confused sigh.

Several minutes later, Frost emerged with a bag. "Here." He pulled her quickly out of the hotel and into the small alley to the side of it. "Change into this."

"In an alley?! With you here?! NUT CASE!"

"I'll make sure no one comes in."

"You peak and I will rip your eyes out and grind them with a cheese grater." Hawke roughly grabbed the bag from him and hid in the darkness of the shadows.

Frost scoffed and declared, "You wouldn't have to because I would already blinded by the sight."

"Ha.Ha.Ha. Very funny man. You make me giggle immensely, your highness," Hawke spat back, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm coming out now...and if you laugh I will beat you with a stick."

She emerged wearing a simple blue dress with short sleeves. A few laces with white string were at the top near the neck, but other than that it was completely plain as it went slightly past her legs. Frost glanced towards her and stared for awhile. 

"It matches your eyes," he commented softly.

Hawke felt a shiver run down her back. She chucked the bag with her old man clothes at his head. "Don't look at me like that." She quickly walked out of the alley. "So I have to pretend to be your slave now?"

Frost gleamed. "Doesn't it just fit? Little town no one bowing down to the big pr--"

Hawke's hand clamped down on his mouth. "You watch it or you're going to get caught."

He removed her hand with his and began to walk down the street lit by all the shop lights. "Come along, Nancy."

"My name is not Nancy."

"It is now."

"But I don't like that name!"

He looked over his shoulder as she walked behind him, trying to catch up. "Can't you walk any faster? You look like a combat girl with those boots on."

Hawke stuck her tongue out at him maturely. "I will never remove these boots."

She caught up with him and the walked down the cobble stone side walk at the same pace. 

"Never?"

"Well, I suppose I do when I shower...but they are water proof, so I don't when I swim."

"You sleep in those?" Frost asked, as his eyebrow raised a bit..

"Yes, as a matter of fact."

"So you mean you're saying," Frost turned to face her,"that you don't remove those even when you...ya know."

Hawke blinked and stood there in complete confusion for a second before she understood what he was asking. "What I do during 'ya know' is NONE of your business!" She whapped him over the back of her head. "You need to get your mind out of the gutter."

"I'm a guy. That isn't possible." He turned and began walking again.

Hawke grumbled alongside him. "Oh yeah," she said a bit later, "your hair probably sparkles during ya know."

"I can make it sparkle whenever I want to. But you're right, it's immensely glittery at that time."

"AHH!" Hawke covered her ears. "That is more than enough! You can stop it now! Too much info! Ugh! Scarred for life!"

"Oh, the poor innocent child is scarred by the thought of sex." Frost laughed with his head back as he kept walking.

"I'm only sixteen...I'm supposed to be innocent. And it's not like that thought of sex per se did it to me....it was the thought of you and sex put together which makes the bile in my stomach want to jump up to my throat."

"Court gossip always said I was the best," Frost smirked as he turned to see her reaction.

"Okay. Now the bile in my throat wants to be released through my mouth."

"Oh come on, you know you want to see my naked ass."

Hawke blanched. This just wasn't like the normal Frost, prince-like behavior. "You know? I really don't want a man whore that the whole court system of ladies has had. Thanks, but no."

Frost's face got serious. "For your information, there is no one that has ever 'had me'. You just can't get through life at a palace without there being rumors. I'm perfectly clean."

"Yeah, well I'm sure you've kissed every girl there."

They had reached a bridge over the river that ran through the small towns. Lights reflected off the water and danced around in the current. Frost leaned on the cement rail and gazed down into the water. 

"I've only kissed one girl, and that one girl only." His voice had become completely serious.

Hawke realized who he was talking about and leaned over the bar next to him. "Ti'anya?"

The silver haired prince slowly turned towards her. "How in the world did you find out?"

"The maids at the palace talked as they bathed me...not that I wanted them to bathe me...I can do that myself." Hawke told him, not turning to meet his eyes. "She was the girl you went to when you died."

Frost nodded slowly. 

"Did I do the right thing in bringing you back?" Hawke had been wondering that for awhile. Frost had seemed so happy being there with her.

He paused to think for a moment then said,"There are other things that I need to do before I die."

Silence enveloped the two as they sat there. Hawke felt really strange, but she didn't want to just leave him hear like this. "Hey--"

"Today is the anniversary of her death."

Hawke was slightly taken back by the whole thing and just gazed at him with an awkward expression. "So...that's why you wanted to go out for a walk."

The prince slowly nodded.

"You know...it's not good to hold all that inside of you like this." Hawke wanted to help for some reason and she stood up on her soap box and let her mouth run away with her. "It has been a year. I'm sure she wouldn't want you to still be moping around. She would want you to be starting to forget and get over--"

"You can't forget about love!" Frost screamed at her, his face contorted in anger.

Hawke's emotions went straight for defensive. "After awhile you have to move on! If you don't just let go you wont ever--"

"What would you know about love?!" He stood up and walked straight at her. Hawke felt like she was being suffocated by his presence and took a couple steps back. 

"I--"

"You are an orphan! You've never had anyone in your life! No one to love and no one to love you back! You know NOTHING about love!! No one cares enough to even teach you about it!!" Frost blew up as his anger peaked.

Hawke went slightly white. Her fists clenched her new blue dress tightly, causing wrinkles to move up and down the fabric. Her mouth lay open slightly as she tried to think of something to say.

There was nothing to say.

The two stood there starring at each other for awhile. Hawke's mind was everywhere but there though. She felt as if she was fading from the face of the Earth, and maybe that was what Frost wanted. How could he hate her so much as to say that to her? She closed her mouth, and then her eyes. Turning on her heels she spun around and began to walk off the other side of the bridge.

Tears welled up in her eyes when she opened them and gazed at the stone ground. "Don't you dare, Hawke." She let go of her dress. "Never let that emotion show," she ordered herself as she continued down the sidewalk, never glancing back to see what Frost was doing and making herself believe that she didn't care.

She didn't really come back to the world until it began raining. The wet drops of water splashed on her face as she ducked under the overhanging roof to get out of it. She covered her arms with her hands and sat down on her heels as she crouched near the side of the house. "I don't care."

She stared at the rain falling into the growing puddles on the streets.

"I don't care."

The rain got harder; she was beginning to get soaked.

"I don't care." Her voice was now nothing but a whisper.

"Well, if you don't lady, neither do I." A voice said from her left. Hawke's head snapped towards the voice and she looked the handsome man up and down. Then something snapped into place in her memory.

"You're that one--" She leapt up from where she was sitting and tried to run, but she was met with a couple of garbage cans and being the complete klutz that she was, she fell over then and onto the road.

"Yes...the man you blasted back at the castle," the young man walked slowly towards her.

"You shot Frost in the head...."

"Completely accidental. I was supposed to get them alive," he told her as he grabbed her wrist roughly. "But that doesn't matter now. I've got you to use. Ultimecia will be quite happy with me after you bring me what I'm after."

"What the hell are you after?" Hawke asked as she jumped to her feet again and kicked him in the stomach. The soldier didn't even flinch and he just grabbed her other hand. She promptly kneed him in the groin, but that didn't get any reaction out of him either. 

"I'm after those two princes that got away. And you're the perfect way for me to get at them," he told her.

He doesn't know who I really am, Hawke thought with a slight sigh of relief. If he knew that she was the one to save the world, she would probably have been shot on the spot. The fact that he was after the guys made everything just a little better.

"No...don't scream, or I'll make you pay later," he pulled her through the street.

"Oooo. I'm so scared. You know what? You're just wasting your time. The guys wouldn't come after me if their life depended on it." Hawke was hoping he would be stupider than he looked, but unfortunately, her luck just wasn't with her that night.

The man laughed a bit and continued to pull her roughly around towards the back of some old, shabby looking building.

"Your house?" Hawke asked, insults welling in her mind to throw at the guy.

He turned towards her and smiled slightly. "Welcome to the rented house of Daldera, mi'lady. Hope you enjoy your stay." He leaned forward and licked her neck slightly. "I know that I will."

Oh shit! I'm in some deep trouble, Hawke thought frantically as she was pulled through the door and into the darkness of the room. "Don't touch me."

"Oh. You don't like men touching you? But you're such a pretty little thing." His eyes gleamed evilly in the flashes of brief light that came through the broken window. He slowly approached Hawke who was busy trying to think a way out of this situation, but wasn't finding anything very good to do at the moment.

Inches from her Daldera came before Hawke felt something strange well up inside of her; white light filled her vision and soon black was all that she could see.

  
  


A/N: Yeah. Ok. So that took me a flipping eternity to write! Sorry! Heh. Schools almost out so now I should almost have time to do as much writing as I'd like...of course this all depends on whether my inspiration doesn't die....O.o....oh well! We'll hope for the best! I'll write again soon...me promise! Toodles-*Magic*


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